Hemoglobin
The biological molecule that reversibly binds oxygen and provides the core oxygen-carrying function used in hemoglobin-based oxygen-carrier technologies.
BHOC
BHOC - Biological Hemoglobin Oxygen Carrier
What is new and why we exist. BHOC Therapeutics uses BHOC to mean Biological Hemoglobin Oxygen Carrier: a development framework centered on the oxygen-delivery function of hemoglobin rather than on the idea of replacing blood as a complete biological system.
What is BHOC?
Blood is a system. Oxygen delivery is a function.
Hemoglobin is the principal oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells. A hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier moves that oxygen-carrying function outside the intact red-cell framework through a specifically engineered hemoglobin formulation.
BHOC builds on the scientific history of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) while emphasizing biological function, tissue oxygen delivery, evidence and practical deployment. BHOC is not presented as a substitute for every function of blood.
What is new
From the blood-replacement question to the oxygen-delivery question.
For decades, the field was often framed around whether an engineered product could replace blood or red blood cells. That framing is too broad. Blood provides oxygen transport, hemostasis, immune functions, buffering, volume support and many other biological functions.
The BHOC framework asks a narrower and more actionable question: when oxygen delivery becomes critically limited, can the oxygen-transport function be supported independently, predictably and in the clinical or operational setting where it is needed?
This is the reason for the shift toward Precision Oxygen Therapeutics: evaluate oxygen delivery by function, physiology, context and evidence rather than by the assumption that one technology should replace the whole blood system.
Terminology
HBOC, Artificial Blood & Blood Substitute Terminology
HBOC means hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier, the established scientific term used across decades of literature. Artificial blood and blood substitute are older and still widely searched terms, but they can imply replacement of the many functions of blood. BHOC Therapeutics retains these expressions for historical, scientific and search discovery while using Biological Hemoglobin Oxygen Carrier and Precision Oxygen Therapeutics for current positioning.
The semantic pathway is therefore:
Artificial blood→Blood substitute→HBOC→BHOC→Precision Oxygen Therapeutics
HBOC
Hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier: the established literature term covering multiple molecular designs, generations, products and development programs.
Biological Hemoglobin Oxygen Carrier
A function-first framing used by BHOC Therapeutics to connect hemoglobin biology, oxygen delivery, evidence, manufacturing and application-specific development.
Hemoglobin foundations
From molecule to species, from blood groups to oxygen delivery.
This BHOC section is the knowledge map, not a duplicate textbook. It will explain the essential sequence: what hemoglobin is, how globins evolved, how hemoglobin binds and releases oxygen, how oxygen affinity and physiology change function, and how hemoglobin biology varies across species and human populations.
These concepts must stay separate: hemoglobin variants are not blood groups; blood groups are primarily red-cell surface antigen systems; species-specific transfusion compatibility is another layer; and HBOC/BHOC technologies move the oxygen-carrying function outside the intact red-cell system.
For human biology we will use scientifically precise language such as genetic and population variation, hemoglobin variants and blood-group systems rather than treating “race” as a biological category.
Evolution & oxygen delivery
Evolution built a system around hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin is more than a molecule that happens to carry oxygen. Across vertebrate evolution, globin-based oxygen binding became a highly successful molecular solution, and multiple layers of biology developed around it to protect, regulate and deploy that function.
The red blood cell is one of those layers. It packages hemoglobin inside a specialized cellular environment. Blood flow, vascular tone, ventilation, erythropoiesis, microcirculation, tissue diffusion and metabolic demand add further levels of control. The result is not a single oxygen carrier but a multi-level oxygen-delivery architecture.
Different species adapt different parts of that architecture to their physiology and environment. The details vary, but the biological problem remains the same: oxygen must be loaded, transported, released and ultimately made available to living tissue. Understanding those layers helps explain both the power of the natural red-cell system and why BHOC focuses on one defined function within it: oxygen delivery.
01 · Molecular level
Hemoglobin: the oxygen-binding core
Subsection created. Source-verified content will be developed here without duplicating the detailed BHOC Science pages.
02 · Cellular level
Red blood cell: protective and regulatory architecture
Subsection created. Detailed content will be added after the scientific structure and primary sources are reviewed.
03 · Transport level
Blood, circulation and vascular control
Subsection created. This will connect systemic transport and regulation to the deeper Science evidence layer.
04 · Tissue level
Microcirculation, diffusion and mitochondrial demand
Subsection created. Detailed mechanism and evidence remain reserved for structured development.
05 · Evolutionary level
Species adaptation and comparative oxygen biology
Subsection created. Species-specific detail will connect to BHOC Veterinary rather than being duplicated here.
06 · Human variation
Hemoglobin variants, population genetics and blood-group systems
Subsection created. Hemoglobin genetics and red-cell blood-group systems will remain clearly separated.
One architecture, no repetition
What belongs where.
BHOC is the definition, orientation and conceptual map. Science explains biological mechanism. Technology explains how the oxygen-carrying function is engineered. Evidence shows what is supported and where to verify it. BHOC-platform is the deep source-linked repository. BHOC Veterinary owns species-specific animal-health and biodiversity pathways.
Each deeper page should answer one question well and link back here. This prevents conflicting terminology, duplicated claims and competing pages while giving search engines one clear BHOC entity hub.
Historical and regulatory anchors
Hemopure, HBOC-201, Oxyglobin and Biopure
Hemopure (HBOC-201) and Oxyglobin are central to the scientific, clinical, veterinary, regulatory and manufacturing history of polymerized bovine hemoglobin oxygen carriers developed by Biopure. These names remain important evidence-discovery terms and historical anchors for understanding what has already been demonstrated, what limitations were identified and what next-generation development must address.
References to Hemopure, HBOC-201, Oxyglobin, Biopure and other third-party technologies are provided for scientific and historical context and do not imply ownership, affiliation or approval of BHOC for their indications.
BHOC Therapeutics
Who is building this framework?
BHOC Therapeutics is developing the Biological Hemoglobin Oxygen Carrier and Precision Oxygen Therapeutics framework across science, technology, emergency and prehospital medicine, critical care, transplantation, veterinary medicine and manufacturing strategy.
Archil Jaliashvili leads the BHOC public scientific and strategic development work and maintains the connected BHOC Therapeutics, BHOC-platform and veterinary evidence ecosystem.
Evidence before claims
Follow the source trail.
BHOC-platform preserves the underlying publications, regulatory records, historical sources and application-specific evidence so that terminology and positioning remain traceable to the scientific record.