Developing a system for the continuous manufacture of red blood cells

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Red blood cells (RBCs) are currently harvested from donors and represent the most common form of cell-based therapy. There is an urgent need for RBCs for transfusion, and this demand is predicted to rise as the population continues to have longer life expectations. In light of this, there has been considerable research advancement to generate RBCs in vitro starting from different precursor cells, however there are no technologies enabling the scaling-up of the process in order to meet the current and future demand of cells. In addition, high-scale production of RBCs is relevant for other applications/markets. For instance, it has been shown that organs that are re-perfused with blood substitutes have a greater transplant success and clean meat companies would be interested in adding a safe, animal-free and affordable source of RBCs to improve the taste and texture of their products. In light of this, CellulaREvolution is willing to undertake industrial research to test/adapt its smart coating technology for the continuous production of RBCs.CellulaREvolution is a company that recently spun-out from Newcastle University with a highly innovative technology that allows the continuous manufacture of cells. Our novel approach is to move from the traditional batch culture (with its overly complicated ways to increase surface area) to a continuous culture system where cells are produced unremittingly. Cells are currently grown in batches, the size of each batch limited by the surface area upon which the cells are attached (e.g. flask size). Importantly, batch culture technologies are not able to meet the demand for cells for different applications that we believe our continuous technology can address.This project aiming at exploring our process for the continuous manufacture of RBCs, can have a great impact on the end users (i.e. patients) while helping the company growing, raising more investments, generating know-how and IP. Moreover, after its completion, other companies could also benefit from this project since we aim to test the newly developed technology via collaborations/partnerships.