Designer blood from Münster

How cord blood stem cells turn into many red blood cells

Blood is a vital component of the human body. Due to an accident or a severe disease, all of us can be dependent on treatment with banked blood. Twelve thousand blood donations are necessary daily to cover the clinical needs in Germany. Especially the oxygen carriers, the red blood cells, are on high demand. Banked blood is perishable and blood cannot be produced artificially – yet. A team of Max Planck Researchers Dr. med. Isabel Dorn and Dr. Holm Zaehres have now for the first time used the iPS-technology to turn cord blood stem cells into red blood cells (Haematologica, epub ahead of print, 17 October 2014).