Posted on 07/10/2010 9:09:20 PM PDT by neverdem
American scientists have developed 'artificial' blood that could soon be used to treat wounded soldiers in battle.
The genetically-engineered blood is created by taking cells from umbilical cords and using a machine to mimic the way bone marrow works to produce mass quantities of usable units of red blood cells.
Known as 'blood pharming' the programme was launched in 2008 by the Pentagon's experimental arm, Darpa, to create blood to treat soldiers in far-flung battlefields.
The firm Arteriocyte, which received $1.95 million for the project, has now sent off its first shipment of O-negative blood to the food and drugs watchdog in the US, the FDA.
U.S. soldiers carry a wounded soldier in Iraq. The breakthrough could help provide enough blood for battlefield transfusions
The blood is made by using hematopoietic cells taken from umbilical cords in a process called ‘pharming’ – using genetically engineered plants or animals to create mass quantities of useful substances.
One umbilical cord can be turned into around 20 units of usable blood. A wounded soldier in the field will require an average of six units during treatment.
Blood cells produced using this method are 'functionally indistinguishable from red blood cells in healthy circulation', the company claims.
‘We’re basically mimicking bone marrow in a lab environment,' Arteriocyte boss Don Brown told Wired magazine.
‘Our model works, but we need to extrapolate our production abilities to make scale.’
If approved it could revolutionise battlefields where a shortage of blood donors can hamper treatment of wounded soldiers.
The process of giving transfusions in war zones is also made more difficult because donated blood has...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Amazing.
Thanks
Umbilical cords and "pharming"...
This is really cool but it will be bad news to college students and winos everywhere.
“This is really cool but it will be bad news to college students and winos everywhere.”
Hahahahahaha...
We can call this another triumph for “adult” stem cell research.
Yeah, I know, a bit of a technicality, as it’s rather hard to call umbilical cord blood cells “adult” but for our purposes...
The blood is made by using hematopoietic cells taken from umbilical cords in a process called pharming using genetically engineered plants or animals to create mass quantities of useful substances.
It sounds like their using recombinant, human erythropoietin, aka Epogen and Procrit, on the red blood cell, i.e. erythrocyte, progenitor cells.
What was the name of that front company the vampires in “Underworld” used to sell their synthetic, cloned blood?
Umm why O-negative? I thought the best blood for transfusions is O-positive.
Sure, they will be the losers, and Corporations will reap billions of $!
Let's know what are the cost trade-off here, before we go Gaga Gaga?
Open your eyes, Corporations are moving to take control of everything that you need to survive. And by Corporations, I specifically mean a small group of monopolistic controlled Corporations e.g. cross-coupled corporate board of directors, representing a very concentrated economic group of interests as in sixteen (16) Trillionaires!
IIRC, all "adult" stem cells used therapeutically now are rather differentiated progenitor cells. They probably refined a technique to separate erythroblasts, red blood cell precursors, from the cord blood, IMHO, and blast it with the hormone and growing media to stimulate proliferation.
And, I'm sure, someday trapping for Phur.
You are right. Genetically modified seed (patented) is what most corn and soybean farmers are planting now. You can’t keep any back to plant next year, like in years past. If you tried, you’d either get caught, or the seed is inviable by design.
Another different note- my mom (in her 70’s) got bit by a small copperhead about 6 weeks ago while gardening. Although we live in rattlesnake/copperhead heaven, none of the local hospitals had any antivenom- they had to source it from Kansas City.
The means of survival are being slowly concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. As a member of the proletariat I am not supposed to be seeing this. I should be concerned with where LeBron James is playing basketball.
This is great. We can use this on soldiers who have no right to refuse the experimental treatment. We need test subjects. /sarcasm -off.
"Universal" donor is O-negative, but you still need to check for minor antigens.
Minor antigens (other than A, B, and Rh) that occur on red blood cells can sometimes also cause problems and so are also checked for a match before giving a blood transfusion.
Recipients can have antibodies to those antigens causing a rejection.
Post-in-poor-taste ping
[well, ~he's~ not using it, any more]
/gallows humor
... The means of survival are being slowly concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. As a member of the proletariat I am not supposed to be seeing this. I should be concerned with where LeBron James is playing basketball. ...
Well put my friend!
The article said one umbilical cord can grow about 20 pints worth for about six thousand bucks.
I gather the erythroblasts can only be induced to divide so many times. I know that human tissue cells are limited in how many times they can divide outside the body while human cancer cells can keep going for all eternity.
No O negative is universal. A positive can take negative blood but not the other way around.
I hope your Mom is doing OK!
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