Scotland to manufacture blood for transfusions

Four Scottish universities are working on a ground-breaking project to manufacture blood for transfusions.

Work on the project has been boosted by £2.5 million from the Scottish Funding Council.

The University of Glasgow, along with Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh and Dundee universities, are working with Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service to generate red blood cells and manufacture them on a large scale for Scotland.

Scientists said the industrial generation of blood from stem cells would end current problems in maintaining supply of blood for transfusion and ensuring compatibility between donor and recipient.

Joanne Mountford, of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and the University of Glasgow, said: “This is not artificial blood. These are red blood cells – the same as those found in your body, but made in a laboratory instead.

“This funding will allow us to really start translating basic laboratory science into industrial processes.

“One of the main challenges of this project is the very large number of cells that will be needed; therefore we will need to develop new bio-process and engineering solutions alongside the biology.

“Funding for such cross-disciplinary work is uncommon and we are delighted to receive this investment to truly integrate these approaches.”

Dr Mountford said more than 10 researchers were involved in the project.

She said: “The production of red blood cells for the use in transfusions was initially started under a Wellcome Trust grant 18 months ago. This current funding is a second stage to address the issue of the larger scale production and industrialisation of the process.”