Novel Membrane-Based Portable Oxygen Concentrator

There is an increasing awareness about the problems associated with blood transfusions. One concernbacterial contamination of blood bags. If contaminated blood is transfused, the person receiving thebecoming sick and dying. Current standards require that blood be visually inspected before leaving tblood has an abnormal appearance, it is not used. This visual quality check is subject to human judgtraining and experience. Unfortunately, bacterial contamination of blood is not something that can ehas been shown, however, that there is a color change in blood as bacteria grow. This is due to hemoand reduced oxygen content. The overall objective of this project is to develop a non-invasive, low-optically identifiable phenomenon to detect bacterial contamination in banked blood. The system needaccurate, and non-subjective. Phase I will establish feasibility of this method and quantify spectracontamination. Phase II will focus on the advanced development of a low-cost, real-time device thatestablished in Phase I, and is compatible with existing blood banking procedures.