I-Corps: A Natural Polymer-Based Engineered Red Blood Cell Product

I-Corps：一种基于天然聚合物的工程红细胞产品

• 批准号: 1644585
• 负责人: Wujie Zhang
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Milwaukee School of Engineering
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2017-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1644585&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Natural; Polymer; Based; Engineered

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project addresses many of the concerns people may have with blood donation and transfusion, including ethical and religious reasons, as well as a number of supply chain related issues. According to the America Red Cross, approximately 36,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day in the U.S., which corresponds to a $1.5 billion annual market. Importantly, many of the risks associated with human blood can be mitigated or eliminated with an engineered product. Other issues include cost and availability of human blood and its processing, such as screening for infectious diseases or spot availability in the supply chain due to natural or other disasters. It is possible that an engineered blood product could become widely available throughout the world and be shipped in large quantities as and where needed, addressing significant supply chain issues. The widely available engineered product may also provide a more affordable alternative to human blood, driving down the costs of expensive human blood products. Lastly, the engineered blood product could also be made available for veterinary procedures where collection systems of animal products is limited.This I-Corps project investigates the commercialization of an engineered red blood cell product, based on natural biopolymers, which mimics natural red blood cells both morphologically and functionally. A prototype has been developed by using a novel polymeric red-blood-cell-shaped hydrogel microcapsule to enclose hemoglobin, which is vastly different from other existing prototypes that exclusively focus on non-encapsulated hemoglobin. The prototype has been tested under physiological conditions, ensuring potential clinical applications. This engineered product is ultimately aimed at replacing human red blood cells for blood transfusion.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力解决了人们可能对献血和输血的许多担忧，包括道德和宗教原因，以及一些供应链相关的问题。根据美国红十字会的数据，美国每天需要大约36,000单位的红细胞，这相当于每年15亿美元的市场。重要的是，与人类血液相关的许多风险可以通过工程产品减轻或消除。其他问题包括人类血液及其处理的成本和可用性，例如传染病筛查或由于自然灾害或其他灾害而导致的供应链中的现货可用性。 工程血液制品有可能在世界各地广泛使用，并在需要时大量运输，解决重大的供应链问题。 广泛使用的工程产品也可能提供一种更实惠的人类血液替代品，降低昂贵的人类血液产品的成本。最后，工程血液产品也可用于动物产品收集系统有限的兽医程序。这个I-Corps项目研究了基于天然生物聚合物的工程红细胞产品的商业化，该产品在形态和功能上模拟天然红细胞。通过使用新型聚合物红细胞形状的水凝胶微胶囊来封闭血红蛋白，已经开发了一种原型，这与专门关注非封装血红蛋白的其他现有原型有很大不同。该原型已在生理条件下进行了测试，确保潜在的临床应用。这种工程产品的最终目的是取代人类红细胞用于输血。