Skip to main content

Scientists have created 'real' artificial human blood - and it could 'revolutionise the treatment of trauma patients'




A British firm is developing what could be the world’s most pioneering liquid invention - ‘real’ artificial human blood.
Like real blood, the liquid acts as a haemoglobin-based oxygen carrier and can be added to the patient’s own blood supply in transfusions.
SpheriTech claims its synthetic blood ‘SpheriSome Hb’ could revolutionise the treatment of trauma patients.
And unlike donated human blood it will never have the risk of containing diseases.
The leading life science company has now received an undisclosed figure from research fund Innovate UK to further develop the product.
For years scientists have been researching possible human blood substitutes.
One, based on bovine haemoglobin, is being trialled in the US while the NHS is developing lab-generated red blood cells made from human stem cells.

Dr Don Wellings, founder and MD of SpheriTech based in Runcorn, Cheshire, said: “The use of donated blood in transfusion therapy, while effective in restoring an adequate supply of oxygen in the body of the recipient, has several limitations.
“Although testing procedures exist to detect the presence of certain diseases in blood, these procedures cannot eliminate completely the risk of blood-borne disease.”
Transfused blood can be used only in recipients having a blood type compatible with that of the donor.
He added: “Delays in treatment, resulting from the necessity of blood typing prior to transfusion, together with the limited shelf life of blood and the limited availability of certain blood types, impose constraints on the immediate availability of compatible blood for transfusion in an emergency setting.
“Yet, despite numerous attempts to come up with viable synthetic blood substitutes since the 1980s, there is still not a single synthetic blood substitute currently available for human trauma patients in the US and Europe.
“Blood typing and handling procedures as well as specific storage requirements, limit the feasibility of using donated blood in many cases.
“These limitations become especially aggravated in out-of-hospital emergency situations such as in battlefields, areas struck by natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other accidents
In some developed countries, decreasing numbers of new volunteers giving blood has resulted in a shortage of blood for day-to-day operations.
“While in developing countries access to safe blood supply for transfusions is a constant struggle, due to infectious agents and lack of stringent screening.
“According to the World Health Organisation, 82 per cent of the world’s population does not have access to safe blood.
Dr Wellings says in addition to its unique properties, SpheriSome Hb also has the ability to be fully excreted from the body.
Also it will not accumulate in various tissues, and is non-toxic, non-immunogenic, non-antigenic and non-carcinogenic.
The development of the artificial blood is being backed by Innovate UK, the United Kingdom’s innovation agency. Since 2007 Innovate UK has committed over £1.8 billion to innovation, matched by a similar amount in partner and business funding.
It has helped 8,000 organisations with projects estimated to add more than £16 billion to the UK economy and create nearly 70,000 jobs.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ukraine crisis: Exchange of hundreds of prisoners takes place

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attends a ceremony to welcome prisoners of war (POWs), released after the exchange with pro-Russian separatists, upon their arrival at an airport in Kharkiv, Ukraine December 27, 2017. (Source: Reuters)  Ukraine and separatist rebels in the east of the country have exchanged hundreds of prisoners, in one of the biggest swaps since the conflict began in 2014. Around 230 people were sent to rebel-held areas in return for 74 prisoners who had been held by pro-Russia rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, BBC reported on Wednesday. It was the first swap in 15 months. The release and exchange of prisoners was one of the points in the Minsk peace agreement, signed in 2015. The deal has stalled since and analysts say the swap does not signify wider progress. Both sides continue to hold other prisoners. The number of prisoners swapped was lower than initially announced after dozens of people who were meant to be returned to rebel-held terr...
Post a Comment
Read more

As many as 12 killed in New York’s deadliest fire in decades

More than 160 firefighters helped bring the blaze under control. (Source: Fire Department New York/Twitter) A massive fire ignited accidentally by a three-year-old boy swept through a five-story apartment building in New York, killing at least 12 people including a toddler and injuring four others in the deadliest blaze to hit the city in decades. The fire broke out around 6:50 pm (local time) yesterday on the first floor of the Prospect Avenue apartment in the Bronx borough of the city and spread quickly, officials said, adding that the cause of the blaze is under investigation. “We found that this fire started in a kitchen on the first floor,” fire commissioner Daniel Nigro said. “It started from a young boy, three and a half years old, playing with the burners on the stove. The fire got started, the mother was not aware of it – she was alerted by the young man screaming.” The boy’s mother fled with her two children, leaving the door to the apartment open – allowing t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Over 1 lakh illegal immigrants arrested in US in 2017

On January 25, Trump issued an executive order to set forth the Administration’s immigration enforcement and removal priorities. (Representational Image) The US authorities have arrested 143,470 illegal immigrants this year, according to a latest report. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in its annual report that it has made 143,470 administrative arrests in fiscal year 2017, increasing 30 per cent Year-on-Year, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. An administrative arrest is the arrest of an alien for a civil violation of the immigration laws, which is subsequently adjudicated by an immigration judge or through other administrative processes. Of the total arrests, 110,568 occurred after January 20, which is a 42 per cent increase over the same time period last year, according to the report. US President Donald Trump took the oath of office on January 20 this year. On January 25, Trump issued an executive order to set forth the Administration’s immigrat...
Post a Comment
Read more