Lab-on-a-chip technologies offer recent ways to evaluate stored red blood cells

Ziya Isiksacan, PhD, a research fellow within the Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgery (CEMS) is the lead creator, and Osman Berk Usta, PhD, an investigator within the CEMS at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, is the senior creator of a brand new study published in PNAS, Assessment of Stored Red Blood Cells Through Lab-on-a-Chip Technologies for Precision Transfusion Medicine.

The article is a collaboration between multiple international institutes and disciplines, and seeks to create discussion and alter towards higher assessment of stored blood.

What query were you investigating?

It is a perspective article that’s prompted by issues regarding the standard of stored Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and the shortage of fine assessment prior to their transfusion. Specifically, we and others posit that stored RBCs, under current practices, will not be at all times protected to transfuse resulting from donor, time, and processing aspects. This is very problematic for critically ailing patients, those on chronic transfusion regimens, and surgeries where large volumes of RBCs are transfused.

Accordingly, we have now, in this angle, highlighted the shortage of quantitative assessment of stored RBCs before transfusion on a unit-by-unit basis, a notable failure on this era of personalized medicine. We foresee that, over the following decade, state-of-the-art technologies comparable to -omics and machine learning will be combined to first discover a set of key quantitative quality metrics (i.e., a high quality index) for stored RBCs. These quality indices can then guide lab-on-a-chip platforms armed with novel biosensors to repeatedly monitor stored RBC quality after which match the properties of the RBC unit to the needs of the patient.

What were your findings?

What makes this text unique is the wide breadth of authors representing the various stakeholders that may ultimately contribute to the solutions proposed in the angle article. Specifically, we have now recruited experts from hematology, transfusion medicine, blood storage and biopreservation, -omics, engineering and life sciences, global health, and ethics who represent each academic and industrial points of view.

Lab-on-a-chip technologies can ensure a more successful transfusion workflow by enabling objective assessment of stored RBC units using quality metrics identified by -omics and machine learning, thus ushering in a brand new era of precision transfusion medicine. Addressing the potential and challenges of precision transfusion medicine will facilitate the proposed convergent future whereby each stored RBC unit is assessed prior to transfusion via a high quality index. This can require all stakeholders (including experts in blood banking, biopreservation, transfusion medicine, -omics, machine learning, bioengineering, ethics, regulation, and ultimately patients) to take part in multidisciplinary discussions and collaborations quite than their current isolated efforts. This Perspective – where we have now a various team of such stakeholders – is a step towards this envisioned era of precision in transfusion medicine.

What are the clinical implications?

Our envisioned workflow, discussed in this angle, was conceived for safer (less adversarial effects and complications) and more efficacious transfusion. As noted, lack of quality assessment of stored RBCs will be especially problematic for critically ailing patients, those on chronic transfusion regimens, and surgeries where large volumes of RBCs are transfused. Thus, if the envisioned workflows are realized, they’d represent a momentous step forward for patient safety.

What are the following steps?

This angle was written by a consortium of authors representing different stakeholders with the goal of envisioning and making a higher future for transfusion medicine safety with the usage of advanced technologies. As such, our next steps are to create interactive forums (conferences and workgroups) to interact and mobilize a bigger variety of stakeholders to comprehend the envisioned goals outlined in this angle.