Feasibility Assessment of a Structurally Closable, Automatable Technique, for the Deglycerolization of Frozen RBC (Human)

Membrane filtration has the potential of providing a closed system for the deglycerolization of frozen RBC (human). This is an effort to determine the feasibility of hollow-fiber membrane technology for the application. The first task is to ascertain the operating envelopes (determination of filtration rates as a function of pressures, flows, hematocrit and glycerol concentration). The second task is to verify a cell washing model and to optimize wash time (<30 min) and wash volumes (<1.5 L). The produce of this effort is a set of predictions (hardware and disposable set specifications) for this application. The work is intended to take place at the Naval Blood Research Laboratory (NBRL), Boston, MA, with the real fluids intended for processing (frozen, thawed Red Blood Cells, Human). The plan is to provide NBRL with a workstation (hardware) and several sets of plasticware to determine operational envelopes and to verify cell washing optimization.