Making engineered red blood cells safe for clinical use

Production of synthetic red blood cells for safe intravenous use

The University of Twente and LipoCoat will develop an erythrocyte alternative that can be safely used as  on-site pre-diagnostic treatments. This will be achieved by combining multiple novel technologies including microfluidics, nanotechnology, and micro-physiological platforms.

Creating a synthetic alternative for red blood cells can improve the treatment of patients with rarer blood types, reduce the demand for blood donations, and play a role in on-site pre-diagnostic treatments. Although several oxygen-carrying red blood cell substitutes have been developed, none was found to be safe for clinical use. Specifically, these red blood cell substitutes are typically made of unnaturally large clumps of oxygen binding proteins or even of oxygen rich oils, which causes infarctions in the lung, brain, and heart when injected intravenously. Innovatively, important steps will be made towards the development of a truly novel red blood cell substitute that will be inherently safe to use.

To realize this, the consortium will achieve several fundamental breakthroughs by developing a radically novel design for red blood cell substitutes. Specific attention will be dedicated to ensuring that these red blood cell substitutes can be safe for injection. This novel approach can offer solutions for prediagnostic treatments, reduce healthcare costs, and reduce blood donor shortage. Moreover, as over 80% of the world’s population lives in a country that cannot afford routine access to safe blood, the development of a synthetic blood could offer a life-saving solution.

All in all, this consortium’s efforts are expected to result in the world’s first, cheap, easy, and safe to administer, off-the-shelf, engineered red blood cell substitute that can provide temporary life support during life threatening situations.

Summary
Severe trauma patients often require immediate blood transfusion in a pre-diagnostic setting, which can cause blood-type specific immune reactions. This project aims to engineer a cost-effective erythrocyte-like microparticle that can be safely intravenously administered to act as a red blood cell alternative by oxygenating the patient’s blood and tissue.
Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
1 - 5
Time period
48 months
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