Artificial intelligence to course through our veins

Romanian researcher Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu, Assoc. Prof. at the Babes-Bolyai University’s Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, is one step closer to realizing what currently exists only in vampire series like True Blood: synthesizing artificial blood. The scientist is working on two parallel projects which should make it possible to administer artificial blood to patients in emergency situations.

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By Otilia Haraga

Radu Silaghi-Dumitrescu and his team are working simultaneously on two projects that, if successful, will conclude a research chapter that has been fascinating scientists for decades: synthesizing blood.

“Experiments in this area have been going on for decades. In the international scientific community, there is no doubt that eventually such a product will be successfully introduced into medical practice. The main obstacles are eliminating the side effects, but with every round of clinical tests – of which the first took place in the 80s – there are fewer and fewer negative results. I think it is unavoidable that, if not us, someone else will eventually put a successful product on the market,” Silaghi-Dumitrescu told BR.

One of the projects he and his team are working on involves hemoglobin, while the other involves hemerythrin, a rare protein prelevated from sea worms that live on the beach.

“We do not actually work with the worms, because we have already extracted their DNA. We inserted it into bacteria and now we are only growing the bacteria in the laboratory. The bacteria are available commercially, precisely for this type of purpose,” said Silaghi-Dumitrescu. “We are also open to the possibility of having a worm farm and have received a collaboration offer from a foreign partner for this. We have not worked with worms until now, but if this proves cheaper, this is also a possibility.”

Lab tests for both projects are being conducted in parallel. “Judging from the results we have obtained so far, we hope we will have a final product for both,” he said.

The raw matter for the tests is the bacterial culture environment. “If you leave your food on the table and it goes bad, this is what happens, bacteria grow there. It is very easy to grow bacteria; you need water, salts, glucose… After that, all you need is a big receptacle in which to let the bacteria grow. It is not that complicated to apply this technique at industrial level,” explained Silaghi-Dumitrescu.

To comply with medical standards, the final product will look like a regular blood transfusion bag. However, the advantage of artificial blood is that, unlike human blood, the water can be taken out and the blood can be stored as powder. “If need be, one can add sterile water to the powder. If for instance, there is no cooler to keep the blood fresh, it can be kept at room temperature in the form of powder,” said the scientist.

In 2010, Silaghi-Dumitrescu and his team started tests on animals and cell cultures, which are expected to continue for another two years.

“I should say that we do not have a definite result yet, only a very clear working hypothesis, and the outlook is promising. In the past some were certain that things would work out, but when they started testing on patients, they failed, and this failure meant that more patients died when treated with the blood they had made than those who were given real blood. It is a grim statistic that I do not want to contribute to,” the researcher told BR.

The team working under Prof. Silaghi-Dumitrescu has very diverse competencies, with five people from the Faculty of Chemistry, some of whom have a background in biology.

However, this is only the central knot of the project, where the team produces and analyzes the substances from a physical and chemical perspective.

“We are also collaborating with a researcher at the Institute of Oncology for cultures of human cells, with the Institute of Biological Research for testing on animals, and we have carried out experiments at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and also with colleagues from the Faculty of Biology at the Babes-Bolyai University. We have collaborators at the Faculty of Physics and at the National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies in Cluj-Napoca. The network is pretty big,” he outlined.

Apart from the team of scientists, since the start of the projects in 2006, students and graduates pursuing master’s degrees have also contributed.

At European level, there is a network called Euro Blood Substitutes, where Silaghi- Dumitrescu used to work between 2004 and 2006. To this day, he is still collaborating with the organization.

On the hemoglobin project, Silaghi-Dumitrescu is working with Essex University, and on the hemerythrin project, with a university in the United States. If the invention is successful and patented, the patent will belong to the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, but also must include the foreign partners.

A great deal has been published and patented in this field. The discovery of artificial blood has been like the quest for the Holy Grail for scientists for some time. However, Silaghi-Dumitrescu is not worried that other scientists might wake up to his ideas and patent his inventions themselves.

“First of all, hemerythrin is not that easy to get. Secondly, there are certain procedural points that are rather delicate, so it’s not like anybody can read the works and start making the blood. Thirdly, they would also need some very advanced labs, which we have in Cluj, fortunately. It would be quite hard to copy the formula, and some things about the procedure have not yet been published. So, we are not exposed on this side. On the other hand, if we were exposed, what is the risk?” asked Silaghi-Dumitrescu, adding that the patient wins either way.

“The number of patients who stand to gain from this will probably be higher than the Romanian population. This is one of the projects in which the patient must come first. Anyhow, Romania cannot lose the credit for this, because these things have already appeared in the press, so everyone knows where it started. As for the prizes and the money, anyone can have them as long as they are able to get the product to the patient faster,” said the scientist.

So far, approximately RON 1 million was spent on the research between 2007 and 2010, and less between 2010 and 2013, “because we worked with remains from other projects and a lot of volunteering from students.”

“I estimate that another RON 1 million will be necessary for lab tests on human cells and animals. Regarding the scaling up that will ensue, it is hard to put forward a figure. I have not made the calculations, but it will clearly be much more,” said Silaghi-Dumitrescu.

At the end of 2013, the Ministry of Education allocated RON 200,000 to artificial blood research. This March, during the Cluj Innovation Days, education minister Mihnea Costoiu announced that the ministry would earmark an additional RON 400,000 for 2014.

“We are considering applying for European funds this year. My lab has been very well financed from competitions for national funds for other projects. It just so happened that the artificial blood project did not obtain additional financing after the first three years, but we got financing for other projects. Since we had our hands full with the other projects, we were not forced to seek more money and there was no time. We now plan to do this, especially since the research budget for this year’s grants has been reduced,” said Silaghi-Dumitrescu.

No precise calculations have been done regarding the price of the artificial blood. “A few years ago, the price of human blood in England was about GBP 1,000. The blood is donated free of charge, but this is the cost of collecting, storing and treating it. So, any product that you procure must be cheaper than this, and it certainly can be. We hope it will be less than half the cost,” he said.

If the artificial blood is successful, “this will add a new product, which is good for business, and what is good for business is good for society. (…) It is a product with very limited applicability, for emergencies, because after being treated with it, you would still need human blood. On the long term, the most interesting thing would be to produce blood from stem cells. Unfortunately, the technology to do that in tons and tons is not available. In scientific literature, it is common knowledge that you can take a stem cell and produce a drop of blood in the laboratory, but it is of no use at industrial and medical level,” added Silaghi-Dumitrescu.

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