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Center for Blood Oxygen Transport & Hemostasis (CBOTH)

About Us

Oxygen (O2) transport and hemostasis are central to human adaptation to stress/injury and to disease pathobiology. The interdisciplinary Center for Blood Oxygen Transport & Hemostasis (CBOTH) addresses fundamental, challenging questions related to blood O2 transport and hemostasis from a systems perspective, with attention to human biology, physiology and therapeutics. Innovative study of O2 transport, hemostasis and key interacting biologic systems crosses traditional disciplines; moreover, efficient therapeutic development bridges typical stages of pharmaceutical & bioengineering advancement.

CBOTH surmounts this challenge by integrating effort from leading investigators across disciplines and engagement across the translational pipeline. Through these interdisciplinary efforts, CBOTH will advance the development of an artificial blood product for use in trauma settings without easy access to donated blood for transfusions, such as battlefields or rural areas. CBOTH includes a team of physicians, biochemists and engineers who are working to answer fundamental, challenging questions related to blood function in the setting of critical illness.

Areas of Content Focus

  • Effect of disease, stress and trauma on RBC biology and O2 delivery
  • Effect of RBC injury on O2 delivery homeostasis
  • RBC interaction and influence on hemostatic and immune systems
  • Optimization of blood product preparation and transfusion to improve O2 transport and hemostasis
  • Pre-clinical models and clinical trials to test engineered “biomimetic” blood components that optimize Otransport and hemostasis

In partnership with the UMB BioPark, CBOTH hosts startups, developing novel technologies that emerge from Center laboratories. KaloCyte is the first such startup at CBOTH, developing the ErythroMer artificial red blood cell design into a pragmatic therapeutic.

In addition to basic and translational science programs, CBOTH hosts Core facilities to provide CRO-like resources in the areas of:

  1. RBC biology, physiology and biochemistry
  2. Nano-engineering based therapeutic development
  3. Pre-clinical models and Clinical Trials for evaluation of O2 transport physiology and transfusion medicine

CBOTH Strategic Approach

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