In Breakthrough Discovery, Scientists Mass-Produce Artificial Blood

Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood, and every year, 4.5 million Americans would die without life-saving blood transfusions.  Not nearly enough blood is being donated to meet the growing demand, leading to shortages that prevent lives from being saved.  This is a huge problem for medical providers and patients. But new research from the University of Bristol and the U.K.’s National Health Service offers hope with a medical breakthrough that could one day revolutionize the blood transfusion process.  While scientists had previously created artificial red blood cells in the lab, this is the first time that they were able to create large quantities of artificial blood in the lab. In the study, published March 14 in the journal Nature Communications, the team of British scientists outline their technique for producing a potentially unlimited supply of artificial blood. This means of creating blood could be particularly useful for helping people with extremely rare blood types, the study’s authors note. At this stage, artificial blood is still a far more costly and cumbersome method of acquiring blood than standard blood donation. But with further work, the new method could one day be used alongside blood donation in hospitals around the world. “Globally, there is a need for an alternative red cell product,” Dr. Jan Fraye, a biochemist at the university and one of the study’s authors, said in a univers...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news