BLOOD donations may one day be a thing of the past thanks to the creation of the first functional red blood cells grown in the lab. The cells were grown from human embryonic stem cells (ESCs).
“You wouldn’t have to worry about shortages because you could create as many as you want,” says Robert Lanza, chief scientist at , the company that grew the red blood cells in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The breakthrough raises the prospect of mass-producing supplies of the “universal donor” blood type O-negative, which is prized because it can be safely transfused into any patient,…
