By Heather Hobbs


BRINGING YOU THE LATEST NEWS & EVENTS FROM THE SCIENCE INDUSTRY


Trial Investigates Effects of Transfused Laboratory Grown Blood Cells in Healthy Volunteers


For the first time red blood cells grown in the laboratory from donor stem cells have been transfused into another person in the RESTORE randomised controlled clinical trial. If proved safe and effective the manufactured blood cells could provide potential treatments for people with rare blood types, including sickle cell, as well-matched donated blood for these disorders may sometimes prove difficult to obtain.


The RESTORE trial, a joint research initiative by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) and the University of Bristol alongside other research partners, is studying the lifespan of fresh lab grown cells compared with infusions of standard red blood cells from the same donor; the lab cells are expected to perform better than standard donated red cells, which contain populations of varying ages. If the manufactured cells do last longer in the body, it could also reduce the patient’s requirement for transfusions as often, thus reducing potential iron overload.


The trial, which is also being conducted with researchers from the University of Cambridge, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Clinical Research Facility, as well


as Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, is part-funded by a NIHR grant.


It is the first step towards making lab grown red blood cells available as a future clinical product, initially available for patients with very complex transfusions needs. Two people so far transfused with the lab grown red cells, have been closely monitored and reported as well and healthy with no untoward side effects. The amount of cells being infused varies but is around 5-10mls - about one to two teaspoons.


Stem cell samples were obtained from NHSBT’s blood donor base and grown in a laboratory at NHSBT’s Advanced Therapies Unit in Bristol. The recipients of the blood were recruited from healthy members of the NIHR BioResource. A minimum of 10 participants will receive two mini transfusions at least four months apart, one of standard donated red cells and one of lab grown red cells, to find out whether the younger lab produced cells will last longer than those made in the body.


Professor Ashley Toye, Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Bristol and Director of the NIHR Blood and Transplant Unit in red cell products, said: “This challenging and exciting trial is a


huge stepping stone for manufacturing blood from stem cells. This is the first-time lab grown blood from an allogeneic donor has been transfused and we are excited to see how well the cells perform at the end of the clinical trial.”


John James OBE, Chief Executive of the Sickle Cell Society, said: “This research offers real hope for those difficult to transfuse sickle cell patients who have developed antibodies against most donor blood types.


“However, we should remember that the NHS still needs 250 blood donations every day to treat people with sickle cell and the figure is rising. The need for normal blood donations to provide the vast majority of blood transfusions will remain.


“We strongly encourage people with African and Caribbean heritage to keep registering as blood donors and start giving blood regularly.”


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UK Scientists Contribute to Huge Leap in Laser Fusion Research


breakthrough this is for laser fusion research. More importantly, however, is the fact that it paves the way for the rapid development of Laser Inertial Fusion Energy, power generation by laser fusion.”


UK Science Minister George Freeman said: “This is a fantastic result that proves the exceptional potential of fusion power and the National Ignition Facility team should be congratulated on their outstanding achievement. I’m proud that the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy-funded Central Laser Facility were also able to play a part in supporting the endeavour.”


The target chamber of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s NIF, where 192 laser beams delivered more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy to a tiny fuel pellet to create fusion ignition on 5 December 2022. Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory


Researchers from the UK’s Central Laser Facility are part of a collaboration led by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory which has achieved the ‘holy grail’ of fusion research, having produced for the first time, more fusion energy than energy input into the experiment.


The National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California, uses 192 laser beams to initiate fusion reactions, using laser driven inertial confinement fusion (laser fusion) experiments. With potential to provide a near-limitless, safe and clean source of carbon-free energy, fusion energy could complement renewables by filling supply-gaps and help in replacing a considerable fraction of the $3.5 trillion per year fossil fuel industry.


Dr Robbie Scott, Senior Plasma Physicist, Science and Technology Facilities Council Central Laser Facility and Chair of the UK Inertial Fusion Consortium, is involved with this project: “It cannot be understated what a huge


“Though there is still some way to go to deliver fusion power generation at scale, results like this one illustrate that there is a viable route to commercial fusion energy ahead, and the UK is in pole position to build on this work towards a clean energy future.


In the recent NIF experiment, 3.15 megajoules (MJ) of fusion energy was produced while the lasers produced an input of 2.05MJ of laser energy into the target chamber. On this record experiment, NIF achieved a gain of 1.54, or 1 and a half times the energy input.


Dr Scott commented further: “The experiment demonstrates unambiguously that the physics of laser fusion works. A lot of work remains to transform NIF’s results into power production, but this is a key step along the path.


“Next steps include the demonstration of even higher fusion energy-gain and the further development of more efficient methods to drive the implosion. We have very well- developed plans for how to go about this and hope these results will help stimulate the funding required to drive our work forward at the pace required to make an impact on global warming.”


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Transplanted Hair Offers Hope for


Skin Rejuvenation In a new study Imperial researchers (ICL) discovered that hair follicle transplants on scarred tissue can help promote scar rejuvenation by altering their architecture and genetic makeup, promoting growth in new cells, blood vessels and collagen to restore healthy skin patterns.


Lead author Dr Claire Higgins, of Imperial’s Department of Bioengineering, said: “After scarring, the skin never truly regains its pre-wound functions and until now all efforts to remodel scars have yielded poor results. Our findings lay the foundation for exciting new therapies that can rejuvenate even mature scars and restore the function of healthy skin.”


The team worked with Dr Francisco Jiménez, lead hair transplant surgeon at the Mediteknia Clinic and Associate Research Professor at University Fernando Pessoa Canarias, in Gran Canaria, Spain. They transplanted hair follicles into mature normotrophic scars, which usually form after surgery, onto the scalp of three participants in 2017.


Using 3mm-thick biopsies results showed a doubling in thickness alongside increased cell growth to around the same thickness as uninjured skin after 6 months. Reduced cell populations of connective tissue, blood vessels, sweat glands, nerves and hair follicles in the dermis (second layer) tissues had also doubled at six months, while the number of vessels had reached nearly healthy-skin levels by four months. The scars also expressed 719 genes differently to before, with genes that promote cell and blood vessel growth forming a majority.


The team is now investigating the underlying processes discovered in the research, with aims to develop therapies that remodel scar tissue towards healthy skin, without requiring transplantation of a hair follicle and growth of a hair fibre.


This work was funded by the Medical Research Council and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (part of UKRI).


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