A patent was issued to Professor Martin Yarmush and colleagues entitled, "Blood Substitutes and Uses Thereof” (Patent number 9387152). The invention describes the development of a short term blood substitute in which hemoglobin is maintained substantially in the reduced form of hemoglobin as opposed to the oxidized methemoglobin form through inclusion of an oxido-reductase enzyme and reducing agents within a vesicle with the hemoglobin. The vesicles additionally can comprise a dismutase, a catalase, and an electron acceptor, each of which contribute to the maintenance of hemoglobin in the active oxygen carrying state.