UNC researchers find synthetic blood cells

Short on real blood?

Some UNC researchers are working on what they hope will become the next best thing.

Co-led by researcher and chemistry professor Joseph DeSimone, the University is in the initial stages of a project that has created mock blood cells that better mimic the real things — and last longer than previous versions.

Samples of the new blood particles tested in mice lasted 30 times longer than stiffer particles.

This week, the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences featured the team’s recent strides in mimicking several properties of actual blood, a process that could lead to more effective treatments of cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

Though the research is still in its preliminary stages, Mary Napier, a senior research associate, said the development of an artificial blood substitute “would have a huge impact on groups like the Red Cross or the military.”

A fully synthetic blood would be available for use in areas of need where human blood could be in short supply.

Napier said the research opens the door to a variety of possibilities. A true synthetic would alleviate issues such as storage or refrigeration. It would also eliminate worries about cross-typing or the immunological responses of recipients.

Tim Merkel, a graduate student who assisted in the research, said the team has a ways to go, but that their success with particles resembling red blood cells has been a cause for optimism.

“It’s something of a misnomer to say we’ve developed ‘synthetic blood,’” he wrote in an e-mail. “It would be more accurate to say we’ve made particles which resemble blood cells in terms of … how easily they bend and stretch.”

He said the new synthetic blood cells mimic the ability of real cells to pass through tight spaces in the body in ways that allow them to remain in the blood stream longer than previous iterations of the technology.

Longer particle lives would allow the synthetic cells to carry medicine longer.

The researchers are now exploring the new directions in which to take their discovery.

“There’s some obvious potential to explore these deformable particles as drug carriers,” Merkel wrote.

DeSimone outlined three specific things he sees as the next steps in his research. First, he wonders if the synthetic blood cells could be loaded with hemoglobin, which would allow them to carry oxygen.

“[It] would have a huge impact if we could pull that off,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Second, he wonders if a modified form of these particles could be used to pick up cholesterol or biomarkers for cancer from the bloodstream.

A third potential development would be the use the soft synthetic cells to deliver drugs in a controlled manner, some of which could enable access to tumors.

While Napier said the current results are phenomenal, she acknowledged that the team still has some work to do.

“They are still quite a ways away from a blood substitute or blood mimic,” she said.

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