Cord Blood Used to Treat Parkinson’s Disease

On the battlefield, shortages of blood for injured soldiers are becoming increasingly common, putting military blood banks in a difficult situation. Now, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ) has developed a synthetic blood production process, which uses cord blood to generate an endless supply of O-negative blood for trauma units all over the world.

The process began two years ago, as DARPA set out to create a scientific method that would be able to grow red blood cells. The process was called ‘pharming’, a way to genetically engineer blood in order to create large quantities of the substance. DARPA’s blood pharming technology could potentially end blood shortages forever, saving hundreds of lives on the battlefield.

Currently, military blood donations are collected in the United States and must be shipped across the world to military hospitals. By the time blood reaches these remote locations, there is less than seven days left before it expires. Often times, blood goes bad a week before it reaches the injured soldiers.

Arteriocyte, the biotech company overseeing the project, can convert one sample of umbilical cord blood into 20 units of blood in just three days. The current cost of the process is about $5000, which may be a little bit too expensive for the average trauma unit. However, the FDA’s approval could scale the production process, reducing the cost and making the use of the blood product more widely used.