NEW! - For a concise Summary on the current state of development in the field of Blood Substitutes, please read the following document:

Blood Substitutes Stakeholder Information Pack This document has been written to provide an up-to-date, unbiased and critical review of the current medical issues surrounding blood substitutes. Our aim is to make available an informative yet concise insight in the the recent and current research into this exciting field of study.

What is the project?

Led by its scientific co-ordinator, Dr. Kenneth C Lowe at the University of Nottingham, the EuroBloodSubstitutes Project comprises a multi-centre, academic amd industrial European team. In 2004 this consortium initiated a new, 3-year research project, entitled Genomics and Blood Substitutes for 21st Century Europe ('EuroBloodSubstitutes').

The EuroBloodSubstitutes Project is funded by the European Union 6th Framework Programme.

Who is involved in the EuroBloodSubstitutes Consortium?

The consortium consists of 12 academic and industrial partners shown in the table below.

Please use the links provided, which will take you to the respective homepage of the partner:

What is the aim of the project?

The project will span 3 years of intensive research into the development of a technological baseline for producing blood substitute components (novel haem proteins) using micro-organisms, such as bacteria and fungi.

The EuroBloodSubstitutes Project will provide a technological baseline for use of micro-organisms as cell-factories for the production of a much needed, effective blood substitute that will help solve the problems associated with using donor blood for transfusions. Such new blood substitutes will, in principle, benefit all European citizens and the European biotechnology industry.

The project has received major funding since the potential for production of blood substitute components from micro-organisms is huge. Such technology has the capacity for the production of 'tailor-made' blood substitutes with novel properties.

Research by the consortium is to focus on the use of two micro-organisms, both of which are already widely used as 'cell factories' for synthesising commercially-important pharmaceuticals: