The NHS Blood and Transplant announced that red blood cells produced in the lab will be ready for testing in humans by 2017 as part of the 2020 Research and Development program's blood and organ service.

The NHS Blood and Transplant is a joint Special Health Authority for England and Wales and is the organ donor organization responsible for matching and allocating organ donations in the UK. To facilitate the use of synthetic blood, it is planning on partnering with leading universities to develop transplantation, transfusion and regenerative medicine within the next five years.

According to Nick Watkins, assistant director for research and development at the NHS Blood and Transplant, scientists have been researching how to create red blood cells for years as an alternative to blood donations used for treating patients and that they are confident that they will be ready by 2017 to carry out a clinical trial on human volunteers.

"Continued investment in research and development is critical to our role in saving and improving lives through blood and organ donation," he added.

Led by Ashley Toye and Dave Anstee, scientists from the NHS Blood and Transplant and Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol Universities are working on creating red blood cells from umbilical cord blood and stem cells from others. Previous research in the area was made possible by support from the Wellcome Trust.

An important aim for the scientists is to manufacture blood that better matches patients with more complex types of blood who have a hard time finding compatible donors. A number of these patients usually have blood conditions like thalassemia and sickle cell anemia which call for regular transfusions.

The NHS Blood and Transplant have ambitious targets for donations for blood and organs. Its 2020 research and development is already focused on investing in experimental medicine to aid these targets but the National Institute for Health Research is also pitching in by committing $19 million.

This commitment will go towards funding three research units, which will be integrated with a top university. With the NIHR and the NHS Blood and Transplant as partners, the university will be tasked with focusing on quickly converting research results into routine practice for blood donations and the organ and stem cell transplants. News about a fourth research unit is expected to follow soon.

Minister for Life Sciences George Freeman MP said developments in blood research demonstrate the world-class work the National Health Service is doing.

Photo: Wellcome Images, London | Flickr