Manufactured red blood cells

[gavster]

Interesting article on the production of synthetic red blood cells.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12752422

 

[Stingray34]

Watch for teams now moving their training camps from the Canary Islands to the balmy cols of Scotland.

 

[biopass]

So cheaters will no longer extract blood to use blooddoping?

Thats good news.

 

[Siriuscat]

This research has been going on a while and not just in Scotland, they could already be in the peloton....

 

[Cloxxki]

Could facilities with these capabilities be forced and then checked to add a marker to the manufactured blood cells, such as our gasoline is colored?

Ownership of manufactured blood without the markers woul be a crime, and thus getting it unmarked, a larger one, and a tough one at that.

 

[JPM London]

Wouldn't it simply be caught by the homologous test? It wouldn't be the rider's own dna...

 

[Cloxxki]

Wouldn't it simply be caught by the homologous test? It wouldn't be the rider's own dna...

Would riders not be able to offer their own DNA for a batch, you think? Nice for weekend batches, when the factory is closed.

 

[Doctor Blood]

Probably multiple ways of detecting although small scale use could be a problem if these where ever to come to fruition. Would expect to effect the biopassport, Flow cytometry should be able to find "antigen negative cells", "Plastic test" etc.
Artificial Red cells, antigen negative red cells - artificial blood or HBOC have been a holy grail for some time. The fact that none have made it into routine use should tell you something.

 

[forty four]

Wouldn't it simply be caught by the homologous test? It wouldn't be the rider's own dna...

exactly no god for doping.

 

[forty four]

no good i mean lol.

 

[Chuffy]

exactly no god for doping.

I thought there was a god of doping? Texan bloke, name eludes me for the moment....

@Cloxxi - surely the artificial cells won't have distinct DNA, so 'coding' them with a rider's DNA is going to be a whole separate line of (incredibly expensive) research.

Hopefully a real scientist will be along in a minute to correct/confirm.

 

[Cloxxki]

I thought there was a god of doping? Texan bloke, name eludes me for the moment....

@Cloxxi - surely the artificial cells won't have distinct DNA, so 'coding' them with a rider's DNA is going to be a whole separate line of (incredibly expensive) research.

Hopefully a real scientist will be along in a minute to correct/confirm.

It may not be worth the trouble when you can just store some blood when you're "in training" for this few rare occasions you show up to an actual race.
I'm growing more and more suspicious of athletes who pick one big tournament to "peak", while some can hold a steady fitness all through a season, and then end up just slightly off the winning pace when the big prizes are divided.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

I thought there was a god of doping? Texan bloke, name eludes me for the moment....

@Cloxxi - surely the artificial cells won't have distinct DNA, so 'coding' them with a rider's DNA is going to be a whole separate line of (incredibly expensive) research.

Hopefully a real scientist will be along in a minute to correct/confirm.

Hermatazeus!

Covers all the angles: ball shrinkage (and other issues) from Test, wicked blood super power, and an overall *ss-kicking demeanor!

All hail the glorious return of Hermatazeus!

 

[Merckx index]

Wouldn't it simply be caught by the homologous test? It wouldn't be the rider's own dna...

Red cells have no DNA. The HBT works by identifying proteins on the surface membrane of the cells. Apparently the goal of this process is to produce "donorless" red cells, which means that they are made using human embryonic stem cell lines. In this case, the cells must be type O, negative (universal donor), so that they are compatible with anyone. But these cells would contain the minor antigens of their original source, so would be detectable by HBT.

A couple more links for those interested. The first is a summary of a research article, which is available at the second link.

http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/full/112/12/4362

http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/reprint/112/12/4475

If you wanted to avoid the HBT, you would have to use matching cells, meaning they would have to be made from some of your own body's cells. With today's technology, the most likely means would probably be through differentiation of bone marrow cells,which give rise to all the blood cell types (i.e., white cells as well as red cells). Another possibility is induced stem cells, made by adding certain genes to skin cells, e.g. In either case, it would be a very expensive process and very difficult to do in secret. And apparently, with current technology it's difficult if not impossible to make enough cells for even one transfusion, let alone several or more.

So I'd say no worries about doping here.