Human skin turned into blood cells - inc platelets

This was in the news this morning and is potentially a great breakthrough for us!

www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/08/skin-cells-blood

Scientists have turned clumps of human skin into blood cells in a feat that could revolutionise cancer therapy and the treatment of blood disorders such as anaemia. Patients who need blood for surgery or a medical condition could have a healthy supply created for transfusion by using a patch of their own skin, researchers said.

Depending on the chemicals used, the skin cells became various kinds of cell that together make up healthy blood. They included early stage red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body, white blood cells, which fight infection, and platelets that enable blood to clot.

"If the patient has anaemia, they only need red blood cells, so we can change the recipe and make those. If we wanted to treat someone with a blood coagulation disorder, we change the recipe again and make platelets," said Mickie Bhatia, scientific director at the university's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute.

The team is now developing ways to produce large volumes of blood by growing patients' cells in the lab before converting them into blood cells. In further tests, the scientists will freeze and thaw the blood, with a view to keeping it in cold storage.

Now I'm not going to pretend that this is some sort of miracle cure, or that it's just round the corner..... but it'll hopefully develop into another method of treatment.

In other news I'm at 58 (up from 36 and 43 in my last 2 counts) and my Nurse Consultant has given me the thumbs up to go to Australia for 3 weeks in Christmas 2011 to see friends and family. All they've asked is that I pop in for a count a few weeks before to see where I'm at. Just got to keep myself at a sensible count in the meantime and save some money!