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Recently the world’s first clinical trial has been conducted, in which lab-grown blood was injected into two people, according to the researchers from nhsbt. This is a huge step to examine if lab-grown cells are safe and effective for the human body and if they could be used in the future. The main goal is to manufacture blood cells for people with various blood disorders such as sickle or for those who need a transfusion of a rare type of blood.
How is blood manufactured?
After the blood is collected from volunteers, it is filtered to pick stem cells that are capable of becoming red blood cells. In the next step selected stem cells grow and become red blood cells in a laboratory. The whole process takes about 3 weeks and results in the growth of cells from 1 million stem cells to around 50 billion red blood cells which are later filtered to 15 billion capable of use, according to BBC.
As of now, only 2 volunteers have taken part in the trial, although it is predicted that more than 10 people will participate. They have been closely monitored and none of them have shown any unwanted effects, allowing the trial to continue. Every participant will get 2 infusions of blood each containing 5-10 milliliters at least 4 months apart. One donation will contain natural blood and the other lab-grown blood which scientists have marked with radioactive substance to track how long it will survive in a human system as part of the clinical trial. The goal for lab-grown cells is to last longer than those produced by the human body. That is possible because lab-grown red blood cells are freshly made and should last a full 120 days in a human body, whereas typical blood donation contains a mix of old and young cells which together last only around 120 days. This may not seem like a huge difference, but in reality, it allows less frequent and smaller donations in the future.
In conclusion, I believe that the whole trial is a significant step in the future development of medicine. It will allow artificial blood to substitute natural blood and will limit the number of donors necessary to upkeep the current demand for red blood cells. It needs to be noted that such procedures and further testing will only be possible if appropriate funding is provided, which is difficult to predict as medical research is an underfunded field of science. Lab-grown blood cells will be not only unaffordable to the average person but also inaccessible without the right reasoning. If these tests succeed and become publicly available they will have a life-changing effect on millions of people all around the world and will save countless lives.
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