Science & Technology

Synthetic blood transfusions within two years

By T.K. Randall
June 26, 2015

Image: Bags and Vials of Blood
Credit: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Gay / (PD) U.S. Navy At the moment blood transfusions rely entirely on donations from volunteers, but what if it was possible to create an inexhaustible supply of even the rarest blood types in a laboratory ?

This week the UK's National Health Service has announced ambitious new plans to begin human trials of synthetic blood transfusions within as little as two years.

"Scientists across the globe have been investigating for a number of years how to manufacture red blood cells to offer an alternative to donated blood to treat patients," said Dr. Nick Watkins.While not intended to fully replace blood donations just yet, the synthetic blood will help provide 'customized transfusions' for patients with particularly complex blood types.

"We are confident that by 2017 our team will be ready to carry out the first early phase clinical trials in human volunteers," said Dr. Watkins.

While it might only be a tentative first step, it's not difficult to imagine a future in which all blood transfusions use synthetic red blood cells created specifically for the recipient.

Source: Yahoo! News

Tags: Synthetic Blood