Out on the battlefield, blood is constantly in short supply at military trauma care centers. But rather than just do endless blood drives, the Pentagon's research arm, DARPA, decided to just make their own.
The Blood Pharming program, launched in 2008, creates huge amounts of O-negative blood, the blood of universal donors. It's made from hematopoietic cells derived from embryonic cord blood cells. As of now, it takes three days to turn one of those cord-blood units into 20 units of blood. On average, a soldier required six units of blood during trauma treatment.
The blood has just been sent off to the FDA for approval. Once it passes muster there, it'll head to the battlefields and then, presumably, hospitals. Is this the end of blood drives?
Source
Via Danger Room
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