Producing blood platelets on demand

The start-up team with the first pocket of platelets produced using their system © 2022 HemostOD - Blood platelets can be stored for only up to a week, and hospitals often run short of this life-saving resource. To help overcome this problem, an EPFL startup called HemostOD has developed technology that can produce blood platelets in large volumes and on demand. Many disorders such as leukemia, other types of cancers, certain congenital diseases, and conditions requiring heart surgery can lower the quality or quantity of patients' blood platelets. Platelets play an essential role in blood clotting; when platelet counts are too low, hemorrhaging is a serious risk and a transfusion is often prescribed. Some 35,000-40,000 platelet transfusions are carried out in Switzerland every year, according to Swissmedic's 2021 Haemovigilance report, but demand for platelets is surely higher since transfusion requests that can't be met due to a lack of supply aren't reflected in the official figures. What's more, the shortage stands to get worse in the coming years owing to population growth, an increase in the number of elderly people, the rising incidence of blood cancer, and progress in the way blood cancer is treated. This shortage stands to pose a real challenge for hospitals, where turnaround times are tight: platelets are stored at room temperature.