Scientists step closer to developing synthetic blood
Tuesday 24th March 2009
Biomedical scientists are to embark on a major project to see if they can generate synthetic human blood from embryonic stem cells.
The trial is to be led by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and is scheduled to last for three years.
Researchers will test human embryos left over from IVF treatments to determine which ones are destined to develop into O-negative blood groups, which can be used universally among patients who require blood transfusions.
Professor Marc Turner of Edinburgh University is to direct the project.
He said: "We should have proof of principle in the next few years, but a realistic treatment is probably five to ten years away."
The expert went on to claim that "in principle", scientists could provide an unlimited supply of blood in this way.
Earlier this year, biomedical researchers at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam made a discovery which enabled them to predict blue and brown eye colour with an accuracy of just over 90 per cent among Dutch people of European ancestry.
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