LMTB winner of the Innovation Award Berlin Brandenburg 2015

Abstract

Human blood is a valuable and limited resource. Globally, over 100 million blood bags are collected annually to provide fresh blood reserves, e.g. for emergency and cancer therapy patients. The demand for blood bags is constantly increasing, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet this demand. Currently the amount of the active ingredient contained in a blood bag – the oxygen carrier hemoglobin (red blood cells) – is only given within a range. Unlike all other drugs, the exact dosage that is administered during a transfusion is not known. At the moment there is no non-destructive method available on the market to determine the exact amount of hemoglobin in the sterile blood bag.