Longevity science

Developed by scientists at the University of California, San Diego, these tiny sponges mimic red blood cells, and are able to soak up lethal toxins – including snake venom and bacteria – from the bloodstream.

The nanosponges are made up of a biocompatible polymer core, which is coated with segments of the host’s red blood cell membranes. That coating fools the immune system into identifying the sponges as the body’s own blood cells, so it doesn’t attack them. Because each nanosponge is 3,000 times smaller than a red blood cell, the harvested membrane of one cell provides enough material to coat thousands of sponges.

The spleen’s job is to filter our blood. When people are critically ill or have received traumatic injuries, however, the spleen alone is sometimes not able to remove enough of the pathogens on its own – potentially-fatal sepsis is the result. In order to help avert such an outcome in those situations, scientists from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University are developing a device known as the spleen-on-a-chip.

The patient’s blood is circulated through the device. The process begins with magnetic nanobeads being mixed with the blood. Those beads are coated with a genetically engineered version of a human blood opsonin protein, that bonds with pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and toxins.