EU-funded researchers are using silk-based bone marrow “factories” to grow platelets in the lab, helping to lower our dependence on limited donor blood supplies. Every day, hospitals rely on platelet transfusions to stop bleeding, support cancer treatment and help patients recover from surgery and serious illness. Yet one of medicine’s most essential blood products is also among its most fragile. Unlike red blood cells, which can be stored for several weeks, platelets last just a few days. They also have to be kept at room temperature, which increases the risk of contamination and complicates storage and transport. That leaves hospitals in a constant race to keep supplies flowing, and dependent on the availability of donors. To ease this pressure, a group of EU-funded researchers are working on an unusual solution. They are producing platelets outside the human body using silk fibroin, a protein derived from silkworms. “We produce platelets in the lab to overcome this limitation and face the growing demand,” said Professor Alessandra Balduini, a haematologist and researcher in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the University of …