Addressing an urgent problem.
Around two million hemorrhaging deaths occur every year, while the blood supply meant to treat them remains scarce, perishable and blood-type restricted.
Three constraints on the blood supply.
Supply
A lack of donors creates a demand exceeding the supply. The American Red Cross has declared an emergency blood shortage, with 51% of US blood banks holding a two-day supply or less.
Storage
Blood components have a limited shelf life, and only under refrigerated storage conditions, which restricts where they can be carried and how long they can wait.
Compatibility
Different blood types complicate delivery. Issues with biocompatibility require typing and crossmatching before a transfusion can be given.
For decades, many efforts have been made to develop a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier (HBOC) to fulfill whole blood's function of oxygen delivery. However, previous attempts have resulted in serious side effects due to the instability of human hemoglobin outside of red blood cells. This highlights the need for a better alternative.
Thanks to advances in genomic studies, we can now look beyond human hemoglobin to overcome the pitfalls that have plagued previous HBOCs, specifically, the extracellular hemoglobins found in annelids, referred to as erythrocruorin.
See the science