Research Case Study - Artificial Blood
Each year in the UK, nearly 1 million litres of blood are transfused into patients from volunteer donors, at a cost of approximately £300 million. The National Blood Service therefore requires significant numbers of donors to avoid shortages, in particular for cases where rare blood groups are needed for patients.
In order to address this need, the Biological Systems Engineering Laboratory has been working on developing an alternative, cost-effective solution to blood donation. An intersdisciplinary team of engineers, biologists and haematologists has developed a novel three-dimensional (3D) dual hollow fibre bioreactor (HFB, IP protected) made of synthetic polyurethane (PU) scaffolds coated with collagen and selectively-permeable membranes (see image below). The HFB mimics both structure and function of the bone marrow wherein a 3D environment physically supports blood cell growth and a specific vasculature (circulatory system) continuously perfuses nutrients and removes metabolites and cellular products (i.e. red blood cells).
The HFB aims to manufacture blood cells from haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) derived from umbilical cord blood which can be used for blood supply. This HFB operating as “in vitro” bone marrow biomimicry can also be used as a novel platform to study leukaemia biology in 3D culture and as a tool for new drug discovery.