Embryos Will Be Used to Create Synthetic Blood

Researchers are currently trying to determine if it's feasible and possible to produce synthetic blood from embryonic stem cells. While stem cell research is heavily criticized by some and strongly supported by others, doctors say that obtaining such blood is absolutely necessary, given the fact that less and less people come into the hospitals to donate some. And, when they do, they only give it to their relatives, when they are in dire need.

That's why blood bank stocks have been plummeting around the world for years, until the current situation has occurred, when health experts simply have had to look for an alternative way of creating the thing that makes us tick. The new research, which will span a period of three years and has the potential to provide emergency rooms with however much blood they need in the coming years, will be conducted by researchers at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS).

One of the main sources of prime materials for their investigations will be embryos resulted from in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures, and the remaining ones will be scanned for the 0 negative blood group, the universal donor. Although most physicians admit that having the same blood type in reserve as that of the patient in the operating room is the safest bet, 0 negative is the one blood type that does not generate tissue damage in any of the bodies it's place into.

In addition, it can be used without worries in trauma and ER patients whose medical history and blood type are unknown to the doctors operating them. The thing about this group is that it's fairly rare, with an average of just 7 percent of people having it. That's why the leader of the project, SNBTS director Marc Turner, who is also a professor at the Edinburgh University, tells that the research will begin within the next few weeks, once all the approvals have been obtained from the relevant research bodies in the country.

“We should have proof of principle in the next few years, but a realistic treatment is probably five to 10 years away. In principle, we could provide an unlimited supply of blood in this way,” Turner explains, adding that the basic technology for turning embryonic stem cells into blood elements has already been developed. The idea is now to test and adapt this process for a scale large enough to ensure that people can immediately benefit from it.