Breakthroughs in Medical Technology Are Revolutionizing Blood Collection Methods, Offering a Painless and More Convenient Alternative to Traditional Techniques

MGI has developed a cutting-edge blood collection system inspired by the biology of leeches, named Bloomics®, which uses patented microneedle array technology to mimic the natural blood collection process of these creatures.

“Bloomics® uses a complex mechanical structure to achieve the rapid insertion and retraction of metal microneedle arrays, making the process nearly painless. By applying negative pressure through vacuum blood collection tubes, peripheral blood can be collected autonomously without the need for professional medical personnel. This innovative sampling method meets the needs for frequent and multi-omics testing for everyone.”

1. Leech Blood Collection, Bionic “Smart” Manufacturing

In nature, leeches use their suction cups to tightly adhere to the host’s skin. With small teeth, they cut open the skin and create negative pressure by swallowing to extract blood. During this process, leeches secrete anticoagulant factors that prevent blood clotting, enabling efficient blood collection.

Inspired by these "blood collection experts," Bloomics® uses a bionic approach, optimized and upgraded, to scientifically apply a painless and minimally invasive blood collection method.

By emulating the leech’s blood-sucking mechanism, the adhesive pad tightly attaches the blood collector to the upper arm. With a simple push of the blood collection tube into the device, the microneedle array inside pierces the skin, and blood is collected under negative pressure. Anticoagulants or other additives in the tube ensure the blood is suitable for subsequent tests.

1.1 Microneedle Array: Painless Blood Collection

The Bloomics® blood collection system uses microneedle (MN) array technology. The microneedle array pricks the epidermis of the skin and then retracts quickly, collecting capillary blood through microchannels, avoiding contact with veins. From triggering the microneedle to completing blood collection, it takes just 90 seconds to gather 200 microliters of blood. Compared to traditional needle-based blood collection, microneedles are less invasive, cause less pain, and wounds heal faster. Additionally, since the microneedle is fixed inside the device, the risk of injury during both the puncture and post-processing is significantly reduced.

In extensive trials, over 90% of users reported no noticeable pain during the blood collection process. Compared to traditional fingertip or venous blood collection, microneedle blood collection is not only safer and more comfortable but also greatly improves user acceptance.

1.2 Vacuum-Driven, Autonomous Blood Collection

The Bloomics® blood collection system is driven by the vacuum inside the blood collection tube, automatically collecting capillary blood from the skin wound. The negative pressure ensures automatic blood collection, enabling self-service without assistance. The device is only the size of an egg, making it compact, lightweight, and easy to carry, allowing blood collection anytime, anywhere.

The safe and portable design does not require medical personnel, allowing even non-medical professionals to operate it easily. This not only broadens its application range but also shifts blood collection from hospitals to homes, reducing medical pressure and enabling a convenient self-service experience.

Disposable Peripheral Collection Container

The disposable human peripheral blood sample collection container and disposable peripheral blood collector, which make up the Bloomics® blood collection system, have obtained China’s medical device product registration certificate. This makes the product suitable for home health monitoring, as well as wide use in hospitals, clinics, retail pharmacies, and laboratories. It can also be used for health screening, athlete monitoring, clinical testing, and other medical diagnostics, meeting diverse medical and health management needs.

2.1 High-Quality Blood Samples: A New Blood Collection Experience

Compared to venous blood collection, the Bloomics® blood collection system effectively reduces the risk of exposure accidents for medical personnel during the blood collection process while ensuring patient safety. Furthermore, compared to fingertip blood collection, the Bloomics® system collects a larger volume of blood and avoids tissue fluid contamination caused by squeezing the fingertip, improving blood sample purity and diagnostic accuracy. This provides high-quality blood samples for downstream analysis.

2.2 Empowering Multiple Application Scenarios

To verify the reliability of the Bloomics® blood collection system in various applications, we compared its indicators with traditional venous blood collection across several testing projects, including whole-genome sequencing (WGS), blood glucose monitoring, biochemical testing, RNA sequencing, mass spectrometry, and Olink proteomics. The results showed no statistical difference in most indicators, indicating that the test results from peripheral blood collected by the Bloomics® system are highly comparable to venous blood, with mutually recognized outcomes. Therefore, peripheral blood collected by Bloomics® can replace or complement venous blood in most testing projects, expanding the use of peripheral blood.

The Bloomics® disposable peripheral blood collection system eliminates the fear and pain associated with traditional needle-based blood collection. Its safe, convenient, and comfortable features make the blood collection process painless, simple, and user-friendly.