Name: Omniblood, All-blood, Universally Compatible Erythrocytes, Purple blood Description: Omniblood is an artificial microbe designed to serve as a robust, shelf-stable, universally compatible blood replacement for blood transfusion. It is technically a shifter, in the same sense that lab-grown beef is technically a cow, although it lacks most essential shifter genes, including the ones that allow for viral production or cell division. On a macroscopic scale, the blood replacement resembles a thick purple-red fluid. Figure 1. Hydrated and freeze-dried omniblood. The purple-red hue is due to the mixture of red hemoglobin and a blue hemocyanin-like protein employed by the microorganism to carry oxygen. Figure 2. Microscopic image of omniblood cells. Omniblood cells contain nuclei and are ovioid in shape, superficially resembling the blood of Terran reptiles and birds. The cilia are used for weak locomotion in external environments. Hydrated omniblood cells are nucleated, purple-red, ovoid and 20 μm long, with short cilia and a thick peptidoglycan cell wall. They are designed to survive in blood plasma, ideally in pH 7.25-7.45, and contain hemoglobin and a hemocyanin-like protein in high concentrations. This allows them to serve as highly efficient oxygen carriers. Once injected into a host, the cells survive in the circulatory system, acting as blood cells, for 2-4 weeks. They are then broken down by the body and filtered out by the kidneys. Abilities: - A blood replacement, treats anemia or blood loss. - Compatible with all carbon-based, water-based, oxygen-breathing species that use their blood to transport this oxygen, and antigens to detect intruders with their immune systems. . - This includes all the organic core races (even florans) . - Does not include species that don’t meet all these conditions, such as Visitant, Archons or Xadari - Uses both hemoglobin and a hemocyanin-like protein to function well in a variety of temperatures (hemoglobin is good for high-oxygen, warm conditions. Hemocyanin is good for cold, low-oxygen environments) – overall, more efficient and temperature-tolerant than human (or other core race) blood - Shifters can easily produce these cells on the spot, provided they have the right genes, allowing for rapid first aid. Warriors produce them at a very impressive rate. The cells are typically produced by budding instead of regular cell division. - Hive matter can produce them as well, up to an industrial scale. - Cells can survive outside the body, if fed daily, for 2 weeks (past this point, too many cells will have died for the sample to be worth using). - Can be freeze dried. Shelf stable at room temperature for up to 2 years (only when stored properly). Longer if frozen. Good for small clinics that can’t afford to store fresh blood all the time, or even keep a fridge running. - Rehydrates rapidly when added to an isotonic solution (ideally: artificial blood plasma), usable within seconds - Does not provoke an immune response, unlike some transfused blood Conditional Abilities: - Excellent for blood doping. - Very safe. Because they are missing essential genes, including ones used to build parts of the cell (such as the peptidoglycan layer) and allow for cell replication, there is no chance of the cells causing problems by replicating inside of the host - It is possible to mass produce this product at a much cheaper cost than normal blood cloning. This is already possible with shifter hives, but only theoretically possible with mundane technology— it would be a challenging project, but still cheaper once a working strategy is developed - Usable by shifters as normal blood - Tasty to carnivorous species :v) Limitations: - For shifters, producing these cells (and blood plasma) in large numbers (which is usually needed in the case of catastrophic blood loss) drains four resources: . - Water and electrolytes: These two are consumed the most out of all the resources, unless the cells are being produced in a concentrated form. It is very easy for a shifter to become badly dehydrated if they’re pumping a lot of blood into somebody else. Symptoms of acute dehydration: extreme thirst, dizziness, fatigue, confusion, fainting. Easily replenished by drinking fluid and consuming minerals — ideally sports drinks, which have both. . - Iron: used to make hemoglobin. Shifters that use hemoglobin in their blood may be forced to digest their own blood cells to extract more iron, causing anemia. Iron deficiency symptoms in shifters include fatigue, irritability, pica, and an urge to eat others or one’s own flesh. Resolved by consuming iron-rich foods (including blood itself) . - Copper: used to make the hemocyanin-like protein. Shifters that use hemocyanin blood may need to digest that blood to extract more copper, can cause anemia. Other copper deficiency symptoms in shifters include slowed metabolism, easy bruising, weakened immune system, muscle soreness and slow shapeshifting . - It also consumes energy, making the shifter more hungry overall (this is true for all shapeshifting though) - Because it (usually) comes from a shifter body, there is risk of blood infections/contaminants if the shifter doesn’t know how to keep the liquid sterile. You can’t just have this stuff come out of your skin and assume it will be bacteria-free. . - Not safe to use if poured from a shifter vein either, because shifters (like most species) have more than just oxygen-carrying cells in their blood. The other shifter blood cells, unless designed to evade most immune systems, can cause fever or more serious immune responses in the patient. It would also spread any bloodbourne diseases or parasites. - When the cells are broken down by the body and filtered out by the kidneys, the hemocyanin-like protein turns your pee purple!!!!!!!! - The same byproducts will also harmlessly stain the sclera of the host’s eyes purple-red for a week after injection - Contains shifter oil, so highly flammable, especially if dehydrated. - This also means that mass-producing the product poses a combustion hazard Conditional Limitations: - More difficult to produce using non-shifter microbiology. Any would-be reverse engineer would need to re-add the missing replication machinery and structural genes in order to grow their own cultures, then they would need to figure out how to reliably turn off those genes once they have enough product. If they don’t reliably turn them off, they have an organism that could replicate out of control inside of its host— possibly mutating to lose its invisibility to the immune system, which would trigger a catastrophic immune response. - Shifters have an easier time reverse engineering and producing the blood because they can produce the cells from their body (or hive) instead of growing them in a culture— no need to restore replication genes, no risk of uncontrolled growth. They still have to identify and restore other genes, though. - Unusual immune systems (due to species or augmentation) may attack and destroy these cells, rendering them ineffective and potentially sickening the host - Unpredictable reaction to FEV infection - Blood tests designed to detect shifterism may misidentify transfusion patients How does it work: Omniblood cells work for most organic species because the circulatory systems of these species are very similar: all of them use blood cells or proteins to transport oxygen around the body. The hemoglobin and hemocyanin analogue inside the cells allow them to carry oxygen at an efficient rate, just like natural erythrocytes. The cells are able to avoid the usual issues that come with incompatible blood typing by minimizing surface receptors and camouflaging themselves from the immune system. This camouflage is employed by incorporating host antigens into the membrane (essentially pretending to be host cells), and shielding any surface components that become opsonized (opsonins are markers that attract the attention of white blood cells)– both common strategies in parasites. The cells survive freeze-drying because they have a thick peptidoglycan cell wall, and a cocktail of shifter anti-freeze and cryptobiosis genes. Flavor text: Omniblood was developed by Kera’tiv on the month of September 3289. They wanted to be able to carry an adequate blood replacement around wherever they go, and produce a cheaper blood substitute for the Renaize medbay. It is based on a designer blood cell usually used by shifter first-responders on their own kind, only modified to be compatible with every common organic species. Referenced Technologies: Uses cryptobiosis systems similar to https://galactic-citizen.com/threads/shinkali-manually-induced-cryptobiosis.3222/ Attainability: Semi-closed, purely because Kera’tiv has just invented it. May become open if sold publicly or made open-source. (Universally compatible blood, in general, has probably been invented before. Nanotechnology in particular might be good for this? However, this invention has a specific set of strengths and weaknesses that not all forms of universally compatible blood would necessarily have, which is why it has an app) Tags: [Civillian] Category: Medical
