Synthetic Blood Breakthrough: British Science Could Overcome Shortages

(Aug. 16) -- Synthetic blood, engineered using embryos leftover from in vitro fertilization (IVF), is one step closer to reality. That's thanks to a team of British scientists, who speculate that the breakthrough could one day yield 2 million pints of ready-to-donate blood each year.

A team led by Professor Marc Turner at Edinburgh University used spare embryos to create red blood cells. The cells are apparently 90 percent of the way towards being fully utilizable in the human body, though clinical trials aren't yet on the table.

The end goal of the research is to produce mass quantities of O-negative red blood cells, which act as a universal donor and are packed with oxygen-carrying hemoglobin.

Only around 7 percent of people naturally produce O-negative blood, making it a hot donation commodity, because it can be transfused into any patient without concerns of rejection.

"We've proved the principle that from these embryonic stem cell lines we can generate red blood cells," Professor Turner told the UK's Independent.

The project was launched only a year ago, and is being spearheaded with more than $4.7 million (£3 million) by medical charity The Wellcome Trust.

Synthetic blood would not only overcome shortages, but would offer a safer alternative to donated pints that risk contamination with viruses like HIV and hepatitis.

The UK has benefited from a head-start on this kind of research, because of laxer regulations on stem cell science.

But here in the U.S, military-backed efforts at producing synthetic blood are also taking off. Earlier this year, Cleveland-based Arteriocyte, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), announced the successful creation of its own O-negative samples.

Substantial ethical challenges and federal approval hurdles aside, both U.S and UK researchers face the added question of cost. Arteriocyte's approach entails $5,000 for a single unit, while the UK method adds up to approximately $784 (£500) per pint.