Horseshoe crabs are tied up and mounted in a row. Each of them is attached to a cannula through which the blood flows and is collected in glass bottles. The bottles are slowly filled with light blue blood.
Around them, people in white coats with masks and gloves are moving.
They are after the horseshow crabs’ very special, blue blood.
It is used to test whether vaccines and medicines are dangerous. The blood has saved many human lives but has also led to the loss of many horseshoe crab lives.
Horseshoe crabs are now on the international red list of endangered species. Is it time to find other ways to test vaccines and medicines?
Even just a little bit of common bacterial toxin, which can cause fever and in the worst case lead to death in humans, was enough to turn horseshoe crab blood into gel.
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Since the blood harvesting results in so many horseshoe crabs dying, researchers have been exploring alternative methods.
One promising new technology is gene editing, which could offer a solution.
With this technology, researchers can synthesise an artificial version of the substance that reacts to bacteria and causes the horseshoe crab blood to clot.
