This is pretty exciting. Better-than-life red-blood cell imitations can be made in the lab. They are hollow on the inside (that's the pocket) using some actual red blood cell (RBC) inputs for a scaffold and then later to complete the outer membrane. The pocket can be loaded with medicines or even guide-able magnetic particles. This isn't cheaper than blood transfusions but it creates a safe way to introduce useful RBC mimics into our bloodstream and give them specialized extra tasks.
The sequence:
Generic RBC are coated with silica for a base layer.
Polymers of different charges are painted onto this base layer.
The RBC scaffold and the silica layer are then scraped away leaving a flexible polymer layer with the exact dimpled shape of a red blood cell.
Then a membrane of RBC slurry is painted on top so the package will be labelled as friendly in the blood stream. Having a real RBC coat, it can deliver oxygen to cells. Being hollow, it can be loaded with medicine and steered. Being flexible, it can work its way through the same crannies a regular RBC faces, make the round trip to the heart and stay in the stream for weeks.
( I couldn't tell if the antigen surface of the RBC coat was specific for each blood type. The research language uses the term "erythrocyte ghosts". A better informed reader can leave a note.)
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