Australian Project Aims to Scale Up Lab-Grown Red Blood Cell Production

Australian Red Cross Lifeblood and the University of Queensland are developing technology to make production of lab-grown red blood cells more efficient. The project is supported by the Solutions for Manufacturing Advanced Regenerative Therapies Cooperative Research Center, a national initiative to accelerate the development and manufacturing of regenerative therapies in Australia.

The university described lab-grown blood as a potential future alternative for patients with unique transfusion needs, including those with extremely rare blood types. Lifeblood can already grow functional red blood cells in the laboratory, but production is expensive and relies on complex manual techniques, according to University of Queensland biomedical engineer Mark Allenby, PhD. The new project aims to increase yields while reducing production costs.

Lifeblood researcher Becky Griffiths, PhD, who leads the project, said it currently takes 3 weeks to produce roughly a teaspoon of blood. Scaling up to a full unit remains a major challenge, she said. Allenby said the processes could also support the manufacturing of other emerging cell therapies.