Tulane Researcher Wins $2 million Grant To Study Blood Supply

A Tulane University researcher has received $2 million to study improvements in the nation’s blood supply. It’s one of 20 awards handed out by the National Institutes of Health Director program.

Sergey Shevkoplyas is an assistant professor at the Tulane Department of Biomedical Engineering. He’ll be studying how some red blood cells degrade during storage.

Shevkoplyas says 15 million units of red blood cells are transfused to about 5 million patients every year, making it one of the most commonly prescribed therapies. He says the degradation that occurs adversely affects one to two percent of patients nationwide.

Shevkoplyas says his goal is to develop a technology that can be used during the transfusion process to prevent red cell damage.