Professor Chris Cooper, School of Biological Sciences, University of Essex
Wednesday 11th February, 4.00 p.m., Stacey Lecture Theatre 1
The red blood cell is one of the simplest mammalian cells and therefore one of the more accessible targets for an artificial synthetic biology approach. And the search for a blood substitute has long been a holy grail for transfusion scientists: a long-lasting virus free product would be able to reach the parts of the world the current blood supply cannot access. This complex research and clinical problem was recently solved by filmmakers keen to show that drinking synthetic blood enabled “vampires” to live in harmony with human beings. This talk will show how far (or near!) current research in this area is from the Hollywood reality.