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Australian researchers have developed a synthetic polymer that can store dry blood, requiring less of it from a patient, resulting in more precise blood tests and analyses.
Professor Emily Hilder from the University of Tasmania’s Australian Centre for Research and Separation Science, and her team, developed the technology, reports Kate Tilley of Plastics News. Investors from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia have interest in purchasing the technology, but it still awaits international patent approval.
Clinicians analyzing blood traditionally have used paper-based materials to store small quantities of blood and other samples. But the new synthetic polymer product, called MilliSpot, enables clinicians to test blood from pinpricks, rather than vials of blood, with greater ease and sensitivity than traditional absorbent materials, the Australian researchers say. Tilley explains more of the history of these materials:
A similar technique has been used since the 1940s to store pinpricks of newborn infants’ blood on paper to test for metabolic disorders. However, Hilder said drug testing is more complex, so storing blood on paper is not sufficiently reliable.
“We need something better than paper and that’s what MilliSpot is — a porous polymer-based material,” she says. The research team formed the material through a radical polymerization of a mixture of two to three acrylate monomers.
Because the product stores blood effectively, less blood is needed from patients, making it easier to test children, or people who need frequent blood tests. The polymer material dries the blood when it is absorbed, meaning that the blood will no longer be hazardous, ensuring safer tests for diseases like HIV.
An international patent review panel has released a preliminary report, saying that the product is novel and inventive. These terms are key requisites for international patents. Patent applications will soon be filed in Australia, the United States, Canada, Europe and other key markets.
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