From the article: Blood transfusions are an important way to replace lost blood, often saving lives in the worst possible circumstances. But not everyone can get the procedure. Some patients with rare blood group types don’t meet the requirements. But what if they could use blood grown in a lab?

The National Health Service (NHS) in the U.K. announced on Monday that it has started a clinical trial where researchers will be administering laboratory-grown red blood cells to patients. Notably, this is the first time ever that red blood cells grown in a lab will be given to another person as part of a blood transfusion trial.

The study––called the RESTORE trial––is a joint research initiative between the NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the University of Bristol, as well as various researchers at the University of Cambridge.

In a YouTube video from NHS, University of Bristol researcher Ash Toye explains that RESTORE is a clinical trial set up to assess whether lab-grown red blood cells are similar, or possibly even better, than a donor’s own blood cells produced inside the body.

“We’re hoping that because they’re so freshly made and ready to go that they’ll be better. If that’s true, then this will be a world first because effectively we’ve taken a cell produced in the donor and we’ve put them into a volunteer who is not related to the donor and they’ve been matched,” he said.