The Aporia · Bhabisara’s blood is so rare, most people have never heard of it. Soon it could be grown in this Brisbane lab

Courtney Kruk

24 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 “People feel more comfortable to confide mental health conditions or other sensitive information, like maybe domestic violence, with somebody who they know,” Hester said.

2026-10-28 · assertive framing · Survey reveals gender divide in burnout, stress among doctors

🔮 Galpin said event organisers told police there was nothing to suggest something might occur before “at least half-a-dozen shots” were fired at people standing near a drop-off zone outside the venue from the front passenger window of a Mitsubishi.

2026-10-25 · assertive framing · Victim shot in head remains critical as hunt for gunmen continues

🔮 Senior meteorologist Angus Hines said the storms had weakened and were moving out across the water, but with warmer temperatures could return after midday, particularly over the border in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.

2026-10-25 · mixed framing · Wet and stormy start to the week, but ‘bright and clean’ conditions coming

🔮 Conservative backbencher Amanda Stoker has arrived at Government House and will be sworn in as the Crisafulli government’s new child safety minister following the resignation of Amanda Camm on Friday.

2026-10-24 · assertive framing · Conservative backbencher sworn in as new child safety minister

🔮 According to Kilroy, staff asked for the restraints to be removed from the mother, who gave birth on October 10, while she was recovering from major surgery, and so she could visit her baby in the NICU without physical restrictions, but prison officers refused.

2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Hospital staff raise alarm, claiming mother shackled while baby in NICU

🔮 “If there was a message I could give to any sort of guy, it would be to find someone to speak to through the journey … because you’re both going through it.

2026-10-17 · assertive framing · Luke thought he had to hide the grief of losing a baby. Then he spoke about it on live radio

🔮 The Goodna man will appear at Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday, and the Logan Reserve man is expected to face the Brisbane Magistrates Court also on Friday.

2026-10-08 · assertive framing · Two more teens charged with murder over 21yo’s party death

🔮 Analysis of the Wacol Remand Centre, published in a report by Queensland’s inspector of detention services, prompted further warnings from advocates about the Crisafulli government’s breach bail laws, which they say will exasperate overcrowding issues in prisons.

2026-10-08 · assertive framing · Kids driven to self-harm at ‘austere and institutional’ centre, report finds

🔮 She is expected to appear before Brisbane’s Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon.

2026-10-08 · assertive framing · Woman charged after alleged attempt to gas sons

🔮 Irvine emphasised that its future Toombul vision would explore opportunities to improve flood resilience and “achieve an appropriate level of development immunity”.

2026-10-07 · assertive framing · Developers unveil new vision for flooded Toombul centre

Also by Courtney Kruk

Three die in spate of road accidents overnight

2026-10-28 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Survey reveals gender divide in burnout, stress among doctors

2026-10-28 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Victim shot in head remains critical as hunt for gunmen continues

2026-10-25 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Wet and stormy start to the week, but ‘bright and clean’ conditions coming

2026-10-25 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 24 articles by Courtney Kruk →

Bhabisara Gharti Magar has a blood type few people have ever heard of. asserted

people → have → type

In fact, the young mum only learnt she had one of the world’s rarest blood types – a subset of the Bombay blood group called Para-Bombay – when she started planning to have children. asserted

she → learn → children

During her pregnancy, doctors warned Gharti Magar they would need to prepare her own blood in advance, in case she needed it during childbirth. asserted

she → warn → childbirth

“I was advised to collect at least three bags through autologous blood donation,” she explains. asserted

she → advise → donation

“Thankfully, I did not end up haemorrhaging [during birth] and I didn’t need any of my stored blood. asserted

I → end → blood

For people with extremely rare blood types, finding suitable donors and blood supply can be incredibly challenging. asserted

finding → find → donors

Experts from The University of Queensland and the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood are hoping to change this, with a new partnership aimed at scaling lab-grown blood to support people with unique transfusion needs. UQ biomedical engineer Dr Mark Allenby says scientists can already grow fully functional red blood cells in laboratories, but the process is prohibitively expensive and labour-intensive in its current form. “You need a trillion red blood cells [to produce a blood bag], and to be able to do that in the laboratory, you need something equivalent to like a tennis court filled with cell culture flasks,” he says. asserted

he → hop → flasks

(“Flasks” provide the nutrient environment, or growth factors, to grow the blood.) asserted

Flasks → provide → blood

“Here in engineering land … we’re not trying to deliver a new biological thing that hasn’t been discovered before. asserted

that → try → thing

“We’re trying to create a scaffolding for cells to grow at high density … with less nutrient costs.” asserted

cells → try → costs

It currently takes about three weeks and costs more than $70,000 to grow a few teaspoons of red blood cells. asserted

It → take → cells

“The way we grow them is still kind of like an old-fashioned Nokia phone,” Lifeblood researcher Dr Becky Griffiths says. “We need to be more advanced in the way we do it, using technology that is more like a smartphone.” asserted

that → grow → smartphone

Griffiths has been working on lab-grown blood for nearly 25 years and helped design the protocols for the world’s first human clinical trial in the UK to compare the benefits of lab grown and donated blood. asserted

Griffiths → work → blood

“A red cell has a 120-day lifespan, so when you donate red cells, you’re getting all different ages,” she says. asserted

she → have → ages

“If you think of it like a punnet of strawberries, you’ve got some really fresh ones and some not quite fresh ones. asserted

you → think → ones

“But what we’re creating in the lab is a brand new red cell each time … so the clinical trial is to test if, firstly, they’re safe to go into people, and secondly … [if they’re] more effective.” asserted

they → create → people

SMART CRC, an Australian company specialising in the development and scaling of regenerative therapies, has invested $2.5 million in the collaborative project. asserted

CRC → specialise → project

Lifeblood stresses that advancing the production of lab-grown blood will not replace the ongoing need for blood donations. asserted

advancing → stress → donations

Rather it could improve healthcare for a small but important segment of the population: people with extremely rare blood types like Gharti Magar’s; babies needing neo-natal blood; and patients who undergo frequent transfusions throughout their life. uncertain

who → improve → life

“Having Bombay blood has always meant knowing that finding compatible blood in an emergency can be extremely difficult,” Gharti Magar says. asserted

Magar → have → emergency

“Knowing there could one day be a way to grow compatible blood in a laboratory would give people like me enormous reassurance.” Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. uncertain

Knowing → know → stories

Bhabisara’s blood is so rare, most people have never heard of it. Soon it could be grown in this Brisbane lab

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