This finding will help augment times of acute shortage of blood, while also assisting in keeping the transplant organs in ship shape during surgeries. Professor Peter Olive, a marine biologist at Newcastle University, UK, said: "It (the lugworm) lives in the mud where it has to get oxygen and so its hemoglobin has a very particular structure that makes it very effective at binding oxygen. It's nearly an ideal structure for carrying oxygen."
Teaming up with the French scientists, they extracted the protein, which was purified to form an artificial blood solution. This water-based solution can be given to any receiver, irrespective of the blood group.
Professor Olive added: "Nature has given us a solution to one of the great quests in the world of science and medicine. Blood transfusion is by nature a difficult process because blood is a complex material. The end product will be a solution that can be used to carry high levels of oxygen into the body. Effectively it is a blood substitute. It can be used in many different medical processes. From treatment of traumatic injuries like car accidents to cancer and stroke patients."