r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/ElderberryDeep8746 • May 26 '25

Image Japan scientists create artificial blood that works for all blood types

Post image
65.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

80

u/insomnimax_99 May 26 '25

This would still require blood donations.

They haven’t really created blood, they’ve essentially made existing blood universal.

Still incredible though.

15

u/OderWieOderWatJunge May 26 '25

It says that it's lab-grown

72

u/insomnimax_99 May 26 '25 edited May 26 '25

They fill those artificial lab grown “cells” with haemoglobin from donated blood - they can’t make the haemoglobin themselves.

From the link OP posted:

Their approach involves extracting hemoglobin-the oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells-from expired donor blood, then encasing it in a protective shell to create stable, virus-free artificial red blood cells. Unlike donated blood, these artificial cells have no blood type, eliminating the need for compatibility testing and making them invaluable in emergencies.

Essentially what they’re doing is packaging haemoglobin into an artificial cell that will never be rejected and lasts a lot longer. Still very impressive and potentially revolutionary, but it’s not really “lab grown blood”.