Overview
Blood transfusion is a necessary treatment for many medical conditions, including blood disorders, cancer, surgery, trauma and childbirth. The diagnostics group have several ongoing projects in progress to aid different aspects of the blood transfusion industry. Our goal is to ensure testing is low cost, rapid, easy to use and accurate.
Projects
Current projects include
- hand held device to identify blood group, with a legible result
- blood typing mechanisms on paper, including capillary flow modelling
- cellulose gels for a blood typing alternative,
- red cell longevity,
- techniques to enhance pre-transfusion testing
The GLIF (Group Legible Immunohaemetology Format) has been developed by the diagnostics branch of BioPRIA. This product is now available from Haemokinesis. All it takes is a drop of blood, wait for 60 seconds, wash until the background is clear, then simply read the result.
Video: https://youtube/Z6oIS3Pnn4M
To further develop our understanding of paper diagnostics the fundamental wicking process in paper is being investigated. This information will ultimately be essential in the design of future diagnostics. Different fluids including biologicals are being investigated using high speed cameras, to observe and consequently model their movement through capillary action in paper.
Fig. 1 Positive result
Fig. 2 Negative result
Current blood typing technologies use gel cards. In these cards the testing reagent (antisera) and red cell solutions are allowed to interact, followed by centrifugation. Agglutinated cells remain at the top, while individual cells will spin down to the bottom. BioPRIA has succeeded in producing a suitable alternative with the cellulose gel (see figure) we are now investigating the binding of antibodies to the cellulose, for future diagnostic products.
Red blood cells are not only necessary for transfusion but also as a reagent for laboratory testing. When refrigerated, these cells currently have a storage time of 42 days. In the laboratory setting this means that blood is required to be donates on a monthly basis to keep up supply. BioPRIA is investigating novel methods for long term storage of these cells. In addition, BioPRIA is investigating methods to shorten the time of pre-transfusion testing to ensure that transfusions can occur safely in a more time efficient manner.
Publications
Pattern formation in drying blood drops
Michael J. Hertaeg, Rico F. Tabor, Alexander F. Routh, and Gil Garnier
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 379: 20200391 (2021).
A rapid paper-based blood typing method from droplet wicking
Michael J. Hertaeg, Rico F. Tabor, Heather McLiesh, and Gil Garnier
Analyst 146(3), 2021, p. 1048-1056.
Rapidly freeze-dried human red blood cells for pre-transfusion alloantibody testing reagents
Diana Alves, Rosemary Sparrow, Gil Garnier
Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 109(11), 2021, p. 1689-1697.
Droplet-based blood group antibody screening with laser incubation
Clare A.Manderson, HeatherMcLiesh, Rico F.Tabor, Gil Garnier
Analyst 146(8), 2021, p. 2499-2505.
Predicting coffee ring formation upon drying in droplets of particle suspensions
Michael Hertaeg, Clare Rees-Zimmerman, Rico Tabor, Alexander Routh, Gil Garnier
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 591, 2021, p. 52-57.
Rapid Gel Card Agglutination Assays for Serological Analysis Following SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Humans
Diana Alves, Rodrigo Curvello, Edward Henderson, Vidhishri Kesarwani, Julia A. Walker, Samuel C. Leguizamon, Heather McLiesh, Vikram Singh Raghuwanshi, Hajar Samadian, Erica M. Wood, Zoe K. McQuilten, Maryza Graham, Megan Wieringa, Tony M. Korman, Timothy F. Scott, Mark M. Banaszak Holl, Gil Garnier and Simon R. Corrie.
ACS Sensors 5(8), 2020, p. 2596-2603
Fibrinogen Diagnostics in Major Hemorrhage
Marek Bialkower and Gil Garnier
Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry, 2020.
Radial Wicking of Biological Fluids in Paper
Michael Hertaeg, Rico Tabor, Joseph Berry and Gil Garnier
Langmuir 36(28), 2020, p. 8209-8217.
Rapid Handheld Paper Diagnostic for Measuring Fibrinogen Concentration in Blood
Marek Bialkower, HeatherMcLiesh, Clare A.Manderson, Rico F.Tabor, Gil Garnier
Analytica Chimica Acta Volume 1102, 15 March 2020, Pages 72-83
Rapid paper diagnostic for plasma fibrinogen concentration
Marek Bialkower, Heather McLiesh, Clare A. Manderson, Rico F. Tabor and Gil Garnier
Analyst, 2019, 144, 4848-4857
IdentiCyte: Simple red blood cell identification software
GFG Garnier, CA Manderson, S Giri, G Garnier
SoftwareX Volume 9, January–June 2019, Pages 223-229
Photothermal incubation of red blood cells by laser for rapid pre-transfusion blood group typing
Clare A. Manderson, Heather McLiesh, Rodrigo Curvello, Rico F. Tabor, Jim Manolios & Gil Garnier
Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 11221 (2019)
Nanocellulose hydrogel for blood typing tests
Rodrigo Curvello, Llyza Mendoza, Heather McLiesh, Jim Manolios, Rico F. Tabor, Gil Garnier
ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 2019, 2, 6, 2355-2364
Activity and Longevity of Antibody in Paper-Based Blood Typing Diagnostics
Clare A. Henderson, Heather McLiesh, Whui L. Then, and Gil Garnier
Front. Chem. 6:193
Dynamics of stain growth from sessile droplets on paper
MJ Hertaeg, RF Tabor, JD Berry, G Garnier
Journal of colloid and interface science, 2019, Vol 541, p.312-321
Engineering nanocellulose hydrogels for biomedical applications
Rodrigo Curvello, Vikram Singh Raghuwanshi, Gil Garnier
Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 2019, Vol. 267, p.47-61
Effect of protein adsorption on the radial wicking of blood droplets in paper
MJ Hertaeg, RF Tabor, G Garnier
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2018, Vol. 528, p.116-123.
Effect of Bovine Serum Albumin Treatment on the Aging and Activity of Antibodies in Paper Diagnostics
Ziwei Huang, Thomas Gengenbach, Junfei Tian, Wei Shen and Gil Garnier
Front. Chem., 08 May 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2018.00161
Liquid distribution and diagnostic device and system
Junfei Tian, Wei Shen, Gil Garnier, David Bashford, Heather McLiesh
UUUS20180172711A1 – US Patent
Media releases
Research on the mechanism behind the formation of ‘coffee rings’ was covered in Phys.org (29 March 2021) and 2SER (31 March 2021).
On-the-spot lifesaver. Gadget buys time in an emergency, featured in Herald Sun, 1 November 2020.
Radical diagnostic could save millions of people at risk of dying from blood loss, featured in Ten News, Sify, Phys.org and Bioengineer, 29 October 2020.
Saving lives faster: Monash develops world-first laser incubator for blood, Monash University, 20 September 2019.
Ross & John’s 3AW breakfast show live interview with Dr Clare Manderson, 20 September 2019: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/3aw-breakfast-with-ross-and-john/id289570515?mt=2
One minute blood typing, Monash University, 7 December 2015.
Haemokinesis – Blood group testing, Monash University.
Low-cost bioactive paper detects blood types in under a minute, featured in New Atlas, 7 December 2015.