Polymer Cloak Gives Blood Cells Anonymity, Possibly Allowing Universal Transfusions
Anyone who has ever donated blood has learned his or her blood type, such as AB, O negative, etc., which will be matched to a recipient with the same blood type. If blood types do not match, a recipient's immune system could reject the transfusion, a potentially fatal proposition. But a new method masks the type of donated red blood cells, possibly eliminating the need to test types and making it easier to give and receive blood. There are eight common blood types, based on four major groups, which classify red blood cells based on antigens that are found on the cells' surface. Foreign antigens can trigger a serious immune response. Type A has only the A antigen, Type B has the B antigen, and so on. Related ArticlesArtificial Red Blood Cells To Aid Drug Delivery, Imaging First Batch of DARPA's Synthetic Blood Delivered to FDA, Could Be on Battlefields...