Several groups around the world are working on different techniques for manufacturing human blood in large quantities.

Although donations have increased in number over the past decade, the world is still in short supply of life-saving, clean blood. So if a higher number of donations is not fixing the problem, scientists need to find another solution to keep up with the demand. One possibility scientists are exploring is the use of synthetic blood substitutes, which, if successful, could potentially be given to any patient in need, regardless of blood type.

Another, less artificial approach could be to grow stocks of human red blood cells in the lab, and we should know whether this works in just a few years as the first clinical trial investigating their potential has just been announced. The researchers working with teams from the universities of Cambridge, Bristol and Oxford have started to grow blood from stem cells taken from adults and umbilical cord blood. Nick Watson from the NHS Blood and Transplant Services said that this was the first step in what will be a long journey.

To start with they will concentrate on growing rare and complex blood types that is difficult to obtain. According to the U.K. National Health Service, the trial will take place by 2017 and will involve transfusing very small amounts, of lab-grown blood into one group of volunteers, while providing another group with donated blood for comparison. This should inform scientists about the survivability of the cells in the recipients and whether they cause any adverse reactions in the body. Scientists are hopeful that the technique will work, as a study conducted a few years back demonstrated that such cells are capable of behaving like the real thing in human subjects, notes New Scientist.