By Sarah Yang, Media Relations | 25 May 2005 BERKELEY – Labels marking bags of donated blood throughout the world contain information about the presence of a Rhesus (Rh) antigen, a protein found on the membranes of human red blood cells. Yet, despite the Rh protein’s importance in blood transfusion and the problems it can cause between Rh negative mothers and their Rh positive fetuses, its biological role has remained largely unresolved since its discovery 65 years ago. But a new study, led by biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, and due to be published June 22 in the journal Genetics, may help clarify the mystery by giving additional evidence that the Rh protein serves as a gas channel for carbon dioxide … Continue reading New research provides evidence that Rh proteins act as CO2 gas channels