The artificial blood is created by extracting hemoglobin — a protein containing iron that facilitates the transportation of oxygen in red blood cells — from expired donor blood. It is then encased in a protective shell to create stable, virus-free artificial red blood cells. As these artificial cells have no blood type, there is no need for compatibility testing. The synthetic blood can reportedly be stored for up to two years at room temperature and five years under refrigeration.
This is fuckin huge if it turns out to be a winner. I mean, almost on the level of the discovery of penicillin big. I did 15 years in EMS, and the single biggest problem in Trauma care is the lack of blood substitutes. Once those blood cells leave the body, that’s it, they’re gone, and either you’ve got replacement blood or you don’t. Artificial blood has been one of the holy grail pursuits of medicine for decades, and we’ve had many, many dead ends with it. Hopefully they’ve cracked it.
The artificial blood is created from expired donor blood, so we still have to keep donating blood, but it increases the shelf life from 42 days refrigerated to 2 years at room temp, which is pretty amazing. Studies began in 2022.
But also compatibility is now irrelevant. It’s like everyone who donates is a universal blood type.
As a universal donor, this is great news! The blood banks may no longer treat me as special tho, dang…
Oh, so its recycled blood. Ok.
It’s up cycled blood. They take hemoglobin from expired blood (the part that actually carries the oxygen) and wrap it in an artificial cell that lacks the proteins related to blood type. This allows it to be accepted by all people.
Slight correction: blood type is defined by different sugar complexes attached to the cell surface, not proteins, which only serve as anchoring in the cell wall for those sugars 🤓
But yeah, the anchoring proteins are missing too 😁
Oh I think I have seen this one, don’t the vampires get to go public now? And we find out werewolves and fairies are real too?
Oh yeah it’s morbin time
Why not pig blood, then?
Good question, but I’m guessing no one would want a cops blood running in their veins
All of the commenters are vampires?
No not at all why would you think that? Vampires are not real and we certainly do not use the internet.
