In essence, thalassemia victims cannot form healthy red blood cells on their own and require periodic transfusions; sickle cell patients are subjected to painful blood vessel .
Both suffer from Cooley's anemia (thalassemia major), a hereditary blood disease resulting in deficient synthesis of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of blood.
Someday the new technology could yield treatments for diseases such as cancer, thalassemia and sickle-cell anemia.