EurekAlert June 3, 2020
Based on a silica cell bioreplication approach researchers at the University of New Mexico designed and constructed synthetic red blood cells (RRBCs) that fully mimic the broad properties of native RBCs – size, biconcave shape, deformability, oxygen-carrying capacity, and long circulation time. Four successive nanoscale processing steps were employed for RRBC construction. Tests proved the recapitulation of RBC shape, size, and membrane structure, confirmed the ability of RRBCs to deform and pass through small slits and reconstitute themselves in a manner comparable to native RBCs. They developed modular procedures with which to load functional cargos such as hemoglobin, drugs, magnetic nanoparticles, and ATP biosensors within the RRBC interior to enable various functions, including oxygen delivery, therapeutic drug delivery, magnetic manipulation, and toxin biosensing and detection…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Abstract. Credit: ACS Nano 2020, XXXX, XXX, XXX-XXX, May 11,2020