Researchers from U.S. have developed genetically-engineered blood which could be used to treat wounded soldiers in battle. It is made by taking cells from the umbilical cords and using a machine to mimic the way bone marrow works to produce mass quantity of usable units of red blood cells called blood farming.
By using hematopoietic cells taken from umbilical cords the blood is made in procedure known as blood pharming. One umbilical cord can be spin into twenty units of usable blood. An average of six units is required for the treatment of a wounded soldier in the battlefield. The blood cells created through this procedure are functionally identical to red blood cells in healthy circulation.
They are fundamentally impersonating bone marrow in lab atmosphere, their model woks but they need to extrapolate their production abilities to make scale, said Arteriocyte boss Don Brown. If agreed it could mutinies battlefields where a scarcity of blood donors can obstruct treatment of wounded soldiers.
The procedure of giving transfusions in war zones is also made more difficult because donated blood has to be transported long distance before it reaches the field hospitals where it is urgently needed. There are increased risks of infection if blood is too old.
At present, each unit created by Arteriocyte costs $5,000 to make If approved, the firm anticipates to bring it down to around $1,000 per unit by scaling up the production process. In addition to being needed by the military, ‘pharmed’ blood could also be used in hospitals to make up for shortfalls in blood donations if it is approved.