Man-Made Blood Might Be Used in Transfusions by 2016
Source: smithsonianmag.com
Researchers in the U.K. have created the first man-made red blood cells of high enough quality to be introduced into the human bodyThe premise of the HBO show and book series True Blood revolves around a technological breakthrough: scientists figure out how to synthesize artificial human blood, which, as an ample new source of non-human food, allows vampires to "come out of the coffin" and announce their presence to the world.
Now, researchers have announced such a breakthrough. A team in Scotland made the first artificial blood that they say is suitable for transfusion into a human body. While the man-made blood likely won’t be standing in as any vampires’ beverage of choice (so far as we know...), it does have application in hospital settings, where it could eventually be used as a plentiful, affordable and disease-free supply for blood transfusions.Here’s Forbes with a description of how the team created the blood:
The artificial blood was 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.
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Read the full article at: smithsonianmag.com
