Activating the expression of erythroid genes using a novel strategy

Blood transfusion is used as a life-saving treatment but it is completely reliant on donors and there can be problems with transfusion-transmitted infection and immune compatability. One solution is to generate red blood cells in the laboratory from stem cells. However the procedure is not efficient and the cells produced are not exactly like the ones made in the body. We are trying to solve this problem using molecular switches, called transcription factors. We  are developing a novel strategy whereby we can turn on specific transcription factors in cultured cells and alter their fate, in our case we hope to turn on the genes involved in the production of fully mature red blood cells.