Changes to the requirements for donating blood coupled with the pandemic have led to a drop-off in the number of teens and young adults donating blood.
DARPA in particular has invested in several projects to try to develop a synthetic blood alternative. There’s no chance anytime soon of reproducing all of the functionality of real blood. The research is mostly targeting something that could be transfused in an emergency that could keep someone alive while they’re transported to a care facility (maintain pressure and distribute some oxygen without inducing toxicity), especially something that would be field-deployable with a longer shelf life, preferably without refrigeration.
They’re on the way. I saw something last year where they’re working on it. I think in its current state it can deliver oxygen but it’s not helping clotting or stabilizing blood pressure yet.
After they work those parts out, the next step will be getting approved which will take time.
It’s a good question. I’m not a biological engineer so I’m not sure what’s stopping us from cloning blood. I feel like that’s where the sweet spot would be for a while.
Wonder if there is any work done on synthetic blood, or if that’s the one thing man can not create.
DARPA in particular has invested in several projects to try to develop a synthetic blood alternative. There’s no chance anytime soon of reproducing all of the functionality of real blood. The research is mostly targeting something that could be transfused in an emergency that could keep someone alive while they’re transported to a care facility (maintain pressure and distribute some oxygen without inducing toxicity), especially something that would be field-deployable with a longer shelf life, preferably without refrigeration.
They’re on the way. I saw something last year where they’re working on it. I think in its current state it can deliver oxygen but it’s not helping clotting or stabilizing blood pressure yet.
After they work those parts out, the next step will be getting approved which will take time.
It’s a good question. I’m not a biological engineer so I’m not sure what’s stopping us from cloning blood. I feel like that’s where the sweet spot would be for a while.
There’s been “something on the way” for fifty years.