British researchers to create synthetic human blood

London, March 23: In a ground-breaking research project, researchers at the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) are trying to create synthetic human blood from embryonic stem cells.

Mimicking the qualities of normal human blood, the synthetic blood will hold red blood cells, which help carry vital oxygen around the body. All this without the risk of lethal infections and supply constraints.

As per the initial sketch, researchers will use left over human embryos from IVF treatment. The embryonic stem cells will then be stimulated to mature into oxygen-carrying red blood cells, particularly of blood group 'O-negative'.

Although common to only 7 percent of the population, O-negative blood is the universal donor group. It can be transfused into anyone without fear of tissue rejection.

The details of the multimillion-pound collaboration between SNBTS, Transplant and Transfusion Service of the British National Health Service and the Wellcome Trust, are likely to be announced this week.

But more “legal, rather than scientific, issues were holding up the announcement”, project leader Dr. Marc Turner of Edinburgh University, the director of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, said.

Destroying human embryos to create stem cells has always been ethically denounced. But researchers defend they will “use the stem cells from forgotten embryos, or those that are created in abundance during artificial insemination processes”. “One embryo could meet the nation's needs,” Turner affirmed.

“Using the embryonic stem cells' ability to multiply indefinitely, it could be used to produce unlimited quantities of blood,” researchers assert.

Embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos during in vitro fertilization procedures. They develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro and not from eggs fertilized in a woman's body. Using the cell culture technique, the embryonic stem cells are then made to mature under laboratory conditions.