Quickstrike Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Students in the Chemical Engineering Department at Loughborough University in the UK have developed a completely synthetic alternative to blood that could be used for transfusion purposes.The work was conducted as a final-year MEng design project, supervised by Dr. Klaus Hellgardt and Professor Chris Rielly. The aim of the project was to develop a useable product as well as a manufacturing process that could supply 10% of the UK?s demand. The product the chemists have developed is compatible with all blood groups, is stable for several months at room temperature and remains completely sterile. The key to the artificial blood is a fluorinated hydrocarbon that can carry more oxygen than real blood. A system of novel adsorption and distillation processes has been developed by student Simon Davies to purify the required chemicals to pharmaceutical grade. The artificial blood is a white emulsion of fluorinated hydrocarbons dispersed in water and surfactants, using either a high-pressure homogeniser, or using a continuous flow ultrasonic reactor that was developed by a second student, Abs Majid. The nano-droplets (300 nm) generated in this emulsification process must be small enough to traverse even the narrowest capillaries in the body. This is ensured using a high shear cross-flow filtration module developed by a third student, Tim Windebank. For more information on blood substitutes, see the Euro Blood Substitutes website: www.eurobloodsubstitutes.com Source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hajj_3 Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 good on them, the more medical breakthroughs the better ! hope they get rich too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheTerminator Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Good job! That sounds incredable. hope I get rich too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostShell Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Good for them. (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlibbyFlobby Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 This University is about 5 minutes from where I live, good to see some 'home grown' contributions to the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santiagof4 Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Nice :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjamunky Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 That sounds amazing. What if that could help athletes when they get an oxygen defecit, so that there is no more muscle soreness :D I wonder if you could get a complete transfusion of this stuff and be like... superhuman :p But then again, I guess your body would make it's own and cycle the synthetics out eventually. This stuff will be amazing for accidents and things where people lose blood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogosama Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 :ninja: :ninja: :ninja: :D :D :D saving lives in the uk :cool: :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2687 Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Woot! No more breathing! :D :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viper217 Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 wow, thats amazing and awesome, though it makes me feel stupid reading the "explanation" of how the blood works, lotta huge words Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deathray Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 in a few years you see people cutting themselves up to receive this blood :| This is definetely cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kupo-Cheer Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 This is such a major breakthrough... I hope this is used for good and does not become expensive... they should help out the needy who rely on this blood to live after an accident or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waurbind Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 wow! this is great, if no rejection drugs are needed then its incredible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 this will be great for those countries in africa who are in need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshire Cat Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 this is a very awesome breakthrough, i am impressed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sensayshun Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Yay. My cousin goes to loughborough uni. It wasn't him, but I'm glad we managed to achieve something so big so close to home. Good on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowPHP Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 :happy: Makes me proud to be British Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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