New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) Indian scientists have developed a novel blood bag using special polymers that capture damage-associated molecular patterns in blood, increases its shelf life to 51-days and keeps it transfusion worthy.
The novel blood bag, developed by Pravin Kumar Vemula and his colleagues at the Bengaluru-based Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), selectively interacts with damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) and prevents their interaction with blood cells.
inStem is an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology.
“Government has also been strongly supporting indigenous R&D and innovation in the healthcare sector,” Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said.
Though the blood received through donation drives has a life of 42 days, it can be used for transfusion only up to 21 days, Vemula said, adding that if poor quality blood is given to a patient, it may lead to internal organ damage, acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Currently, preservative solutions are used to control the PH level of blood to reduce the stress, but such methods do not remove DAMPs which continue to interact with blood cells and cause them harm.
“The polymers have been designed in such a way that they also have the charge component and also are attached to the molecules which can selectively interact with these damaging agents. Because of these interactions, they can bind with DAMPs like glue but do not interact with any blood cells,” Vemula said.
He said using the novel blood bags, the quality of old storage blood is as good as freshly stored blood.
Vemula has also established a start-up – CaptureBio – to which the technology will be transferred, which would later lead to bulk production.
“We are registering the start-up now and will soon license the technology to the company. It will then start bulk manufacturing,” he said.
India requires 12 million units of blood every year, but manages to collect less than 10 million units from donation drives.
Vemula said more than one million units of blood have to be discarded due to decreased quality during storage. PTI SKU SKU TDS TDS
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