Universities 'create' blood

Four Scottish universities are working on a "ground-breaking" project to manufacture blood for transfusions.

Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Glasgow and Dundee universities are working with Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service to generate red blood cells and manufacture them on a large scale for Scotland.

Work on the project has been boosted by 2.5 million from the Scottish Funding Council.

Joanne Mountford, of the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and Glasgow University, said: "This is not artificial blood. These are red blood cells - the same as those found in your body but made in a laboratory instead."