RIT engineering researcher and UR physician apply for patent for blood typing device

Steven Day, professor of biomedical engineering at RIT, and Majed Refaai, physician and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, applied to the U.S. Patent Office this past April for a new blood typing device that can assist trauma patients prior to blood transfusions. The portable system, the Abo Blood Group Point-of-Care Chip Testing Device, would be an immediate step for determining an individual’s blood type at the onset of emergency care.

The device, the size of a microscope slide, has components embedded that can separate and profile blood samples. During emergencies, patients are often given transfusions through universal blood typing. Using only a small sample of blood, the device could provide results in minutes, and use of specific blood types could save patients’ lives.

Co-inventors Day and Refaai intend to refine the device toward better storage and stabilization of needed blood antigens for typing. The combination of engineering and medical processes inherent in the device design is part of an emerging trend in lab-on-chip and point-of-care devices for emergency use in healthcare.

Read more about the device on the URMC website.