Francisca Fernandes Gomes MSc

Nature presents the most elegant engineering solutions to our most complex problems - biomimicry is just the main challenge.

Erythrocyte Membrane-inspired Lipid Coatings For Use In Blood Substitutes

Blood is a life-saving resource in patient care. However, since blood banks depend entirely on donations, blood supply is often not enough. To prevent shortages, synthetic blood substitutes are explored. In this work, we developed erythrocyte membrane-mimicking lipid coatings and a simple method of lipid-coating particle suspensions. We assessed the hemocompatibility of different formulations, identified the best synthetic membrane, and combined it with oxygen-generating microgel cores to produce a final self-oxygenating erythrocyte substitute.

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BIOGRAPHY

Francisca Gomes is a fourth-year PhD candidate at the University of Twente and LipoCoat, working on engineering synthetic erythrocytes as blood substitutes. She holds an MSc degree in Bioengineering and has worked in multiple projects in nanobiotechnology. With a keen interest in microgel engineering and bio-inspired coatings, she aims to tailor creative solutions for current challenges in medicine. Recently, she earned the award for Best Oral Talk at the TechMed Research Day.

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