A combinatorial approach to generate blood cells from hPSCs

输血是最常见的临床治疗方法之一，在许多健康状况和疾病的预防和管理中起着关键作用。每年进行约9000万次红细胞输血，这一不断增长的需求依赖于有限的健康献血者供应。供应问题因输血传播感染、免疫兼容性和捐赠产品质量等其他问题而复杂化。这些问题可以通过在实验室中从无限和无感染的来源（如人类多能干细胞）中产生红细胞来解决。虽然有可能，但这个过程需要数周时间，成本高昂，而且制造出来的细胞还没有完全成熟。该项目旨在开发改进的培养方案，以减少时间和成本，优化全功能细胞类型的生产，并适应临床标准和规模。我们将使用Plasticell的组合细胞培养技术和多能干细胞系进行第一次大规模系统的培养条件评估，这些干细胞系携带跟踪红细胞生成的荧光报告细胞。除了改变现有的输血服务外，这种新的红细胞来源将为发展中国家提供急需的供应。

Blood transfusion is one of the most common clinical therapies and plays a critical role in prevention and management of many health conditions and diseases. Around 90 million red blood cell transfusions are carried out every year and this rising demand is dependent on a limited supply of healthy donors. The supply problem is compounded by other issues including transfusion transmitted infections, immune compatibility and the quality of the donated product. These problems could be solved by generating red blood cells in the laboratory from a limitless and infection-free source such as human pluripotent stem cells. Although possible, the process takes several weeks, is costly and the cells that are made are not fully mature. This project aims to develop improved culture protocols that reduce the time and cost, optimize the production of fully functional cell types and amenable to clinical standards and scaleup. We will perform the first large scale systematic assessment of culture conditions using Plasticell’s Combinatorial Cell Culture technology and pluripotent stem cell lines carrying fluorescent reporters that track red blood cell production. As well as transforming existing blood transfusion services, this new source of red blood cells would provide a much needed supply in developing countries.