Overview
- The approach, detailed Wednesday in Nature, stopped hemorrhage in rats in under five seconds, cutting blood loss to about 24 milligrams versus nearly 2,000 milligrams in controls.
- The method uses bioorthogonal click chemistry to add reactive handles to red blood cell surfaces and then links the cells into a tough cytogel that integrates with the body’s fibrin clot.
- Engineered clots showed roughly 13-fold higher fracture toughness and four-fold greater adhesion energy than native clots, which suggests a lower risk of rupture and rebleeding.
- Animal studies reported minimal immune response, no major-organ toxicity, and signs of better liver healing with less inflammation than a clinically used comparator.
- The team says autologous products could be prepared in about 20 minutes and donor-based in about 10 minutes with about a month of cold storage, though shelf life, scale-up, and larger-animal and human trials are still needed.