New way to grow blood in a lab could save lives

‘Severe shortage of donors’

SCIENTISTS have developed a means of manufacturing human blood that could be used in lifesaving transfusions.

Previous methods of growing artificial blood in a lab were limited as stem cells ‘wore out’ fairly quickly – but this breakthrough opens the door to mass production.

A bag of blood contains around a trillion red cells, while past efforts yielded only around 50,000 per stem cell.

Now University of Bristol and NHS Blood and Transplant researchers have succeeded in making stem cells produce an unlimited number of red blood cells – a process described as rendering them ‘immortal’. However, the new technique is prohibitively expensive, meaning supplies are likely to be restricted to people with very rare blood types for which there are a severe shortage of donors.

Dr Jan Frayne, one of the researchers, told the BBC: ‘We have demonstrated a feasible way to sustainably manufacture red cells for clinical use. We’ve grown litres of it.’

The next hurdle will be developing the technology that enables large-scale production.

Professor David Anstee, who helped pioneer the new technique, described this as a ‘bioengineering challenge’.

He said: ‘The next phase of our work is to look at methods of expanding the yield.’

Some blood types are so rare it is almost impossible to find a donor. The researchers said their work ‘could potentially provide a source of red cells for transfusion in areas of the world where blood supplies are inadequate or unsafe’.

Safety trials of the lab-made blood are planned for later this year. NHS Blood and Transplant said it has no intention of ending traditional blood donation.