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DrewSmoothington t1_iumkng5 wrote

Could it be possible to engineer red blood cells that are more efficient than the naturally occuring ones in our bodies? Would the cells you are engineering be identical to natural ones, or more/less efficient?

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UniversityofBath OP t1_iumu5fc wrote

Thank you for the great question! It would definitely be cool to make extra efficient red blood cells that work way better than the naturally occuring ones! It would be a whole new area of research for blood biologists. However, as engineers, we are currently working with the cells that the biologists have developed and given to us, so the naturally occuring red blood progenitor cells and we are aiming to grow and mature them in red blood cells that would deform in the same manner (essential to allow them to navigate through blood vessels) and they bind and release oxygen in the same manner to naturally occuring ones in our bodies.

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