Synthetic blood is a product that acts as a substitute for red blood cells, designed with the purpose of transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide around the body. The development of artificial blood is desirable because of the problems associated with blood transfusions, particularly the risk of transmitting viral diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. There are also difficulties with transporting and storing blood (synthetic blood is kept in powder form), as well as a perpetual shortage of blood donors.
In 1956 Thomas Chan (b. 1933), working on an undergraduate research project at McGill University, Montreal, created the first artificial blood cells. Turning his dormitory room into a makeshift laboratory, Chan used improvised materials (including perfume atomizers) and cellulose nitrate solution (a material used to coat wounds) to create a permeable sack that could transport hemoglobin. Hemoglobin can be extracted from old donor blood, cow's blood, plants, and fungi. It is modified to ensure it is stable before being used in the human body.
Synthetic blood has not yet become an alternative to real blood, but it has been used outside of research. There are ethical questions about its use and whether people will accept artificial blood. Europe has explored hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs), whereas the United States has focused on perfluorocarbons (PFCs), a Teflon-type group of synthetic liquids. But HBOCs and PFCs still lack two ingredients of real blood: white blood cells to fight infection and platelets to help blood clot. Finding a substitute that performs all of blood's functions still eludes scientists.
