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Synthetic Blood Via Artificial Cells And Platelets From Stem Cells

There’s hema­tology news, times two (at least):

1. Progress in devel­oping syn­thetic red blood cells

A University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill research group has created hydrogel par­ticles that mimic the size, shape and flex­i­bility of red blood cells (RBCs). The researchers used PRINT® (Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates) tech­nology to gen­erate the fake RBCs, which are said to have a rel­a­tively long half-life. The findings were reported on-line yes­terday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (abstract available, sub­scription required for full text). According to a PR-ish but inter­esting post on Futurity, a website put forth by a con­sortium of major research uni­ver­sities, tests of the par­ticles’ ability to perform func­tions such as trans­porting oxygen or car­rying ther­a­peutic drugs have not yet been conducted.

Developing com­petent, arti­ficial RBCs is a hematologist’s holy grail of sorts, because with that you might alle­viate anemia without the risks of transfusion.

2. Progress in using human stem cells to gen­erate lots of platelets

In an exciting paper pub­lished today in Cell Research, inves­ti­gators stim­u­lated human embryonic stem cells to become platelet-producing cells, called megakary­ocytes. According to the article (open-text at Nature PG), the platelets were pro­duced in abun­dance, appeared typical and clotted appro­pri­ately in response to stimuli in vitro. The researchers injected them into mice, used high-speed video microscopy for imaging, and demon­strated that the stem cell-derived human platelets con­tributed to clot for­mation in mice, in vivo (i.e., they seem to work). Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Medical Lessons*

Real-Time Drug Safety Reports

sewyh7a8.jpgResearchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed an iPhone application that keeps you up-to-date with drug safety reports and allows you to submit any side effects directly to the FDA.

The app, called MedWatcher can keep a list of medications for which you receive both official FDA alerts and news from other channels. Users can report side effects straight from the app and view other submitted reports. The researchers hope to lower the barrier to reporting side effects, increasing the participation in safety surveillance.

Reports of serious adverse events are reviewed by members of the Children’s Computational Epidemiology Group and then submitted to the FDA. The app was developed using technology from the Outbreaks Near Me app, which we covered one year ago. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

Male Birth Control: Is Ultrasound The Key?

123vxsfd.jpgFinally men everywhere might have a birth control option that won’t rob them of the joys of living.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may have discovered a cheap, convenient and noninvasive method of male birth control — ultrasound. The scientists believe that a single treatment can provide up to six months of infertility that is reversible.

The team has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their work. If the project pans out, this could have an incredible impact on global health. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

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