(April 29, 2015) What
do you do when a patient needs a blood transfusion but you don’t have their
blood type in the blood bank? It’s a problem that scientists have been trying
to solve for years but haven’t been able to find an economic solution – until
now.
University of British Columbia chemists and scientists in
the Centre for Blood Research have created an enzyme that could potentially
solve this problem. The enzyme works by snipping off the sugars, also known as
antigens, found in Type A and Type B blood, making it more like Type O. Type O
blood is known as the universal donor and can be given to patients of all blood
types.