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UniversityofBath OP t1_iumm605 wrote

Reply to comment by Annual-Mud-987 in We’re Sandhya Moise, David Phillips and Chan Lee from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. Our research aims to grow human red blood cells in the lab to help treat cancer and other diseases. by UniversityofBath

>This is very cool research that can impact so many lives! Thanks for the work that you do.
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>My question is: Is it possible to also differentiate stem cells to other types of blood cells like platelets and white blood cells?

Hello, thank you for the great question! The starting cell type, known as BEL-A cells (developed by scientists at University of Bristol) that we work with, have been succesfully matured into red blood cells that are similar to native red blood cells found in the body - their biological signature and performance (e.g. oxygen-binding capacity) are comparable. Our aim of designing 'bioreactors' to mass manufacture these cells will be followed up with a list of criteria that we will check against to make sure that our bioreactor-produced cells are comparable to native red blood cells.

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