Scientists put an end to blood donations

Blood donations could possibly come to an end as scientists have generated blood cells from a patient’s own skin.

The 20 year project might break grounds for creating an infinite number of immune and blood cells for transplants through reprogramming the skin cells of the patient.

The Boston team made use of the embryonic stem cells and exposed them to chemical soup, which in turn activated their conversion into tissue in body for manufacturing a wide range of human blood cells.

Experimenting first on mice, the tissue was transplanted in them and saw the manufacturing of new blood cells. Scientists were able to produce blood stem cells in order to create the four types of blood cells. This research would be able to match the blood for patients who are unable to make their own because of various diseases, informs Daily Mail.

Dr. George Daley, the lead scientist expressed, “This work is the culmination of over 20 years of striving. We're tantalizingly close to generating bona fide human blood stem cells in a dish.”

According to research which is already reported in the journal Nature, many guarantees have been made in order to develop personalized treatments for blood disorder, decreasing scarcity of blood donations and drug-screening.

The co-author of the study Dr. Ryohichi Sugimura said, “This step opens up an opportunity to take cells from patients with genetic blood disorders, use gene editing to correct their genetic defect and make functional blood cells.”

“This gives us the potential to have a limitless supply of blood stem cells and blood by taking cells from universal donors. This could potentially augment the blood supply for patients who need transfusions,” she concluded as reported by Telegraph.