Human Skin Can Be Turned Into Blood, Study Says
November 8th, 2010 - 8:50 pm ICT by GDBy Meena Kar
Nov 8, (THAINDIAN NEWS) McMaster University in Hamilton has come up with a very useful research program that can save a number of patients from any kind of fatal blood disorder. It has been discovered that supply of blood can be backed with the help of a tiny patch of their own skin.
If it goes successfully, then it would reduce the risks and problems involved in blood donation. It will help in personalizing blood production for the first time. Michael Rudnicki, scientific director of the Canadian Stem Cell Network and director of the Regenerative Medicine Program said that it would be a very important contribution in the field of stem cell research. The procedure of this particular method involves extracting a small piece of skin from the fibroblasts. This piece of skin has to be added with a single protein that binds to DNA. After certain chemical reactions, the skin cells are reprogrammed or morphed into millions of blood progenitors, which are the cells that produce blood. This process would be able to generate different types of blood cells like oxygen-ferrying red blood cells and infection-fighting white blood cells. It can also work for people belonging to all age groups as the rigorous research was conducted using skin from adults, as well as neonatal foreskin and was established successfully.
This research would be ready to be tested on humans within two years. All the researchers now need to do is, test whether these artificial blood cells can be safely transferred into human veins, with the technique similar to that of normal blood transfusion. This study will be conducted in 2012, and if it goes successfully, the technique would be used in hospitals within a few years.
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Tags: artificial blood, blood disorder, blood donation, blood transfusion, human skin, human veins, mcmaster university, medicine program, red blood cells, regenerative medicine, rigorous research, rudnicki, skin cells, stem cell network, stem cell research, time michael, tiny patch, types of blood cells, useful research, white blood cells