Manufacturing blood on-demand: the project that will require 3D bioprinting

By
Kety S.
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Although the title of this article looks like you are about to read the narrative of Sci-Fi movie, it is not. It rather portrays the start of a project that might become a futuristic vital solution for patients who desperately need blood as part of a specific disease’s treatment.  

Sciperio and nScrypt two companies led by Dr. Ken Church are currently involved in a project which aims at creating solutions for future blood supply by making on demand human blood. They currently collaborate as part of the  4D Bio3 program with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ (USU) , The Geneva Foundation, Safi Biosolutions, Advanced Bioprocess Services, and Massachusetts General Hospital.  

With a funding of $8.8 Million to start the first year of this program, the whole team plans to create what they call a “Whole blood development roadmap”. 

Sciperio’s contribution will be to develop a highly automated rugged bioreactor with multiple sensors for real time feedback and control, which will be built by nScrypt for Sciperio. 

Dr. Ken Church further explains their intention: “How do you manufacture blood at a scale relevant for patient use? We are using several nScrypt SmartPumpTM tool heads to precisely microdispense growth enhancers in the bioreactor, causing cell expansion and differentiation. The bioreactor makes it scalable. There are so many interesting aspects and advantages of biomanufacturing blood, including the ultimate benefit to humanity. Starting with a few cells, our bioreactor will produce billions of cells, a necessary requirement for patient transfusion. We believe this exciting project will one day result in a steady source of safe and affordable on-demand blood made where and when it’s needed.”  

nScrypt’s SmartPump™ microdispensing tool head eliminates drooling with pico-liter volumetric control and boasts the widest range of materials available for any microdispensing system: more than 10,000 commercially available materials, ranging from a few centipoise (like water) to millions of centipoise (much thicker than peanut butter). The SmartPump™ pen tip has the smallest commercially available diameter, 10 microns. 

The 4D Bio3 On-Demand Blood program 

Established by the U.S. Department of Defense, the goal of this program is to provide military service members access to quality, non-contaminated, fresh blood supplies anywhere in the world. 

The potential of manufacturing human red blood cells safe for human transfusion on-site, even in an austere location, reduces the need for extensive donor networks and donor blood screening concerns, and streamlines logistics related to processing, long-term storage, and transport of blood. This new program could be the answer to blood shortages on the battlefield, other remote locations, and in hospitals. 

 

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