Marc Turner and his team at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service are close to developing artificial blood in lab that can be used for transfusions.
Artificial blood [is] derived from stem cells that have been made from an adult donor’s skin or blood. These donor cells are genetically rewound to become induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which have the potential to develop into any of the body’s 200 tissues.
The iPS cells are cultured for a month in a chemical environment, similar to that found in bone marrow, that encourages them to mature into red blood cells. Up to half of them do so. Standard techniques, such as centrifuging, are then used to separate the artificial blood from other cells.
This man-made blood has several advantages over traditional donor blood. To benefits, as accounted by Rodgers and others:
First, the produced blood is all Type O negative — “universal donor” blood. Normally this type makes up less than 10 percent of the available blood. A large supply of Type O negative would streamline the process of finding acceptable transfusions. When people are losing large amounts of blood, having the right type on-hand can make all the difference. There is no risk of blood-born diseases. Blood grown in a lab is disease-free and there’s no risk of a fresh transfusion transferring HIV.
Third, patients could get fresh blood cells. Normally, red blood have a 120 day life cycle. With donor transfusions, the cells being given could be anywhere in that 120 cycle — they could begin to naturally die off a few days or weeks after transfer. Lab-grown cells could be used at the start of their lifespans, maximizing the effectiveness of each transfusion.
A fourth observation, one not touched upon in any of the pieces I’ve read, involves the social dimension of blood donation. Blood has a short shelf life. The way we do things now, the donor blood supply is available at the whims of the populace. People may donate more than is needed after a tragedy. The blood being used in an emergency will already be on the shelf, and a post-tragedy surplus, no matter how well-intentioned, may go to waste. Supplies typically run low in summer. Making the supply of blood more directly responsive to the needs of hospitals seems like a major benefit to switching from donor-based to lab-grown blood transfusions.
https://www.scotblood.co.uk/