Public Cord Blood Banks in the USA

It costs a bank about one thousand dollars to process cord blood for storage. Any given bank has budgetary limits on how many donations they can accept for free. In order to save donations on a registry for potential transplants, they must have income to support the registry. That income may come from federal and/or grant funding, it may come from the profit margin of private banking, it may come from selling some of the donations to research programs, or some combination of the above. To learn more about how the banking industry works, see the pages about Types of Cord Blood Banks and Cost of Banking.

The public banks which are purely oriented towards saving cord blood for transplants can only afford to collect from selected hospitals, during times when their staff are on duty. Therefore, if you are looking for a pure transplant bank you will have to conduct a geographic search based on the hospital where you plan to deliver.   A master list of all hospitals which collect donations, called "Give Life Twice", is maintained by 
Stemcyte Family at 1-888-770-GIVE.  Their list is more complete than just a list of hospitals which collect for the NMDP registry.

There are only two banks in the USA which currently (summer 2007) collect mail-in donations:

• Cryobanks International -- collects year-round, presumably sells some portion of collections.
  
• LifebankUSA -- collections fluctuate, depending on demand from the clinical research trials they supply.

Not everyone is eligible to donate cord blood, and not all cord blood collections will be suitable for public storage. To learn more about the requirements that the mother and the blood collection must pass, go to the page on Informed Consent.

Also, ask your OB/Gyn if she or he will charge for collecting cord blood. Many doctors charge over $100 for this procedure, even if the patient is donating the blood for the public good.

This brochure only lists public cord blood banks which "participate" in the registry of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).  A "registry" is simply a data base listing the tissue types of donors. The NMDP imposes certain guidelines on participating banks.  

COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.sandiegobloodbank.org
PHONE: (619) 296-6393 extension 8327
STORAGE: San Diego, CA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
The cord blood inventory at this bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), but they are not actively collecting cord blood at this time.


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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.bonfils.org
PHONE:
STORAGE: Denver, CO

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
The cord blood inventory at this bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), but they are not actively collecting cord blood at this time.


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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: cancer.duke.edu/ccbb
PHONE: (919) 668-1116
STORAGE: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.   The Duke University 'Carolinas' Cord Blood Bank is accredited under the international FACT/Netcord standards.

The Director of Carolinas Cord Blood Bank is Joanne Kurtzberg, M.D. of Duke University, one of the world's leading transplant physicians.

The Carolinas Cord Blood Bank opened in January 1998 with the support of the National Institute of Health (NIH)/ National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) sponsored Cord Blood Transplantation Study (COBLT). In 2006, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank a contract to participate in the National Cord Blood Inventory (NCBI) of the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program. Current Carolinas Cord Blood Bank collection hospitals include:

1. Duke Hospital
2. Durham Regional Hospital
3. UNC Hospital
4. Rex Hospital
5. Western Wake Hospital, and
6. Women’s Hospital of Greensboro.

The goals of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank at Duke are:

• To build a large and diverse inventory or "bank", of cord blood units so people in need of a bone marrow transplant will have a better chance of finding an adequate match.
  
• To study the best ways to collect, process and transplant cord blood.
• To provide the highest quality source of ethnically diverse cord blood units available to the public for transplantation.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.choc.org
PHONE: (714) 516-4335
STORAGE: Orange, CA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank  participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants & Research
COLLECTS FROM: Florida, Michigan, and North Carolina
INTERNET: www.corduse.com
PHONE: 407-562-1650 (corporate)
OFFICE: Lake Mary, Florida
STORAGE: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network. 

CORD:USE is a for-profit corporation founded in June 2004 to collect cord blood donations for public use.  It is their hope that increased utilization of cord blood will enable them to turn a profit and allow them to continue to increase the number of units in their inventory.

The medical director of CORD:USE is Joanne Kurtzberg, M.D. of Duke University, one of the world's leading transplant physicians.  The staff of CORD:USE have profiles on their website. 

CORD:USE contracts with the laboratory of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank at Duke University Medical Center; this laboratory holds FACT/Netcord accreditation.  CORD:USE samples are stored in a separate BioArchive freezer.  CORD:USE only accepts collections from medical centers where they have trained the staff.  The collection may be performed by dedicated personnel or by OB/Gyn's and midwives.  CORD:USE training allows staff to either  collect cord blood "in utero", prior to delivery of the placenta, or to collect "ex utero", by draining cord blood from the placenta after it has been delivered.

As of Oct 2007, the CORD:USE collection sites are:

• Florida: Orlando - Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies
• Michigan: Dearborn - Oakwood Hospital
• North Carolina: Greensboro - Women's Hospital of Greensboro, Raleigh - Rex Hospital
  

CORD:USE only archives collections which contain a minimum of one billion mononuclear cells, the highest collection threshold employed by any public bank as of Feb 2006.  Smaller collections are used for research programs that collaborate with Dr. Kurtzberg.

CORD:USE hopes to expand their collection network, focusing on medical centers with the opportunity to obtain racially and ethnically diverse cord blood donors, to ensure that  the greatest number of individuals seeking a matched transplant can be helped.


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This bank is now listed under New Jersey Cord Blood Bank.

COLLECTS FOR: Research &  Transplants
COLLECTS FROM: ANYWHERE!
INTERNET: www.cryo-intl.com
PHONE: 800-869-8608
STORAGE: Altamonte Springs, FL

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES:  NMDP, BMDW, CRIR

DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network. 

Cryobanks International is one of only two banks that accepts donations mailed in from anywhere.  They started as a private cord blood bank, but their current business is primarily oriented towards accepting donations.  The Scientific and Medical Board of Advisors is profiled on their website.

Cord blood donations which are not eligible for unrelated transplants will go towards one of the research projects in which Cryobanks Intnl participates.

Cryobanks Intnl helped draft the legislation for the cord blood donation programs in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, and several others.

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This program is now listed under New Jersey Cord Blood Bank.

COLLECTS FOR: Family
COLLECTS FROM:  Anywhere, but for a fee
INTERNET:  www.familycordbloodservices.com  
PHONE: 888-828-2673
STORAGE: Los Angeles, CA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES:
none yet (to be listed after ten years storage, see below)
DESCRIPTION:
Family Cord Blood Services is primarily a private cord blood bank, but parents are also offered a Public Donation Option^SM .  In order to be eligible, the maternal blood test and the cord blood must both pass all the medical requirements for public donation, and the parents must agree to privately store the cord blood for 10 years before releasing it.  This program costs an additional $250 on top of the regular private banking fee.  The additional charge helps defray the $400 cost of HLA typing the cord blood so that it can be listed on a donor registry.  If the cord blood is released for a transplant, parents are reimbursed for the processing and any storage fees.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM: Brooklyn, NY
INTERNET: www.giftoflife.org or www.jcord.org
PHONE: 561-988-0100
STORAGE: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, CRIR, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network. 

Gift of Life was founded in 1991 to seek a matching donor for leukemia patient Jay Feinberg.  The last donor tested turned out to be a perfect match!  Since then, the charity has evolved into a vehicle for bone marrow donor recruitment, focused on the international Jewish community.  In 2005, they launched a Gift of Life cord blood program which collects from Maimonides hospital in Brooklyn, NY.  The cost of the program is borne by Gift of Life fund-raising.  In order for the donations to be listed on the NMDP network, obstetricians who collect for Gift of Life must undergo training and regular proficiency testing.

The laboratory which processes and stores cord blood for Gift of Life is located at the University of Massachusetts; the laboratory director is Philip Lowry, M.D.   The Gift of Life lab has AABB accreditation and is seeking FACT accreditation.

There are research publications on "HLA polymorphism" among people of Jewish heritage (go to PubMed and search on these keywords), which show that they are more likely to find a donor match in their own ethnic type, and next among other Mediterranean groups.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants and Research
COLLECTS FROM: Clarian Health Network (Transplants), other Indiana Hospitals (Research only at this time)
INTERNET:  www.IndianaCordBloodBank.org
PHONE: 800-804-6703
STORAGE: General BioTechnology, Indianapolis, IN

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES:
Working towards NMDP participation

DESCRIPTION:
The Indiana Cord Blood Bank is a public banking division of the Indianapolis-based private bank, Genesis Bank. 

Public collections were launched at the start of 2007 within the Clarian Hospital Network, one of the largest in the state.  The Clarian Network includes Methodist Hospital in downtown Indianapolis, Clarian North, Clarian West, Indiana University Hopsital, and Riley Hospital for Children.   Cord blood transplants are performed at Riley Hospital for Children.   The Indiana Cord Blood Bank is currently working on approval to collect donations from St. Vincent's Hospital Network.  Together, the Clarian and St. Vincent's Networks account for almost 20,000 deliveries each year.

The Indiana Cord Blood Bank will accept donations from anywhere in the state, but due to medical regulations they cannot list units for transplant use unless they come from the hospitals with IRB (Institutional Review Board) approvals.  Units from other hospitals are designated for research use only.  Research units are stripped of donor identity and distributed for use in clinical trials.

The state of Indiana is currently (April 2007) considering legislation regarding a statewide program of public cord blood banking.


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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET:
PHONE: (216) 844-4723
STORAGE: Cleveland, OH

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW
DESCRIPTION:

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.givcord.org
PHONE: (877) 448-2673
STORAGE: Glenview, IL

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network. 

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.karmanos.org
PHONE: (313) 576-8721
STORAGE: Detroit, MI

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network. 

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM: Brooklyn, NY
INTERNET: [no website]
PHONE: 718-384-2332
STORAGE: Community Blood Services, Paramus, NJ

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
Kehila Cord (no website) is sponsored by Dor Yeshorim and serves the Chasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. This is a community which has very little contact with the outside world; the program is promoted by word-of-mouth. Dor Yeshorim was founded in the 1980's by Rabbi Josef Ekstein to offer genetic testing prior to arranged marriages, in an effort to prevent the spread of fatal hereditary diseases. Rabbi Ekstein lost four of his own children to Tay-Sachs disease. In 2005, Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz (718-218-8180) launched a drive in community synagogues to encourage parents to donate cord blood. The cord blood is processed and stored at Community Blood Services (part of the NMDP bank network) in Paramus, NJ. The cost of the program is borne by both the Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program and Kehila Cord. For more information, contact Kehila Cord at 718-384-2332 (office: 429 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 1121).

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COLLECTS FOR: Research & Transplants
COLLECTS FROM: ANYWHERE!
INTERNET: www.lifebankusa.com
PHONE: 1-877-LIFEBANKUSA (1-877-543-3226)
STORAGE: Cedar Knolls, NJ or Baton Rouge, LA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: CRIR
DESCRIPTION:
LifebankUSA  is one of only two banks that accepts donations mailed in from anywhere.   LifebankUSA is a subsidiary of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics , a biotech pharmaceuticals company (Nasdaq: CELG).   They primarily do business as a private cord blood bank.   The LifebankUSA public donation program can be found under the "Medical Professionals" section of their website, but the best way to get information is to phone.

LIfebankUA is the first cord blood bank to routinely bank the stem cells from the placenta, in addition to the umbilical cord blood.  This is a separate process.  They recommend collecting blood from the umbilical cord in utero, then the placenta is delivered and cells are extracted from the placenta.

LifebankUSA encourages parents to donate the placenta, regardless of how they are banking the umbilical cord blood.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:  Selected hospitals in north Florida and south Alabama
INTERNET: www.lifesouth.org/lifecord.html
PHONE: (352) 224-1600 or  334-1000
STORAGE: Shands Hospital at Univ of Florida, Gainesville, FL

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program   cord blood bank network. 

LifeCord is a program of LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, developed in cooperation with the University of Florida College of Medicine and the Shands at UF Stem Cell Laboratory. The medical director of LifeCord is John R. Wingard, M.D.  As of Jan 2006, collections are accepted from:

• North Florida Regional Medical Center,
• Shands at AGH,
• Shands at UF,
• Shands at LakeShore,
• The Birthing Center,
• The Patient's Corner,
• Baptist South and Baptist East Hospitals in Montgomery, Alabama
• East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama -- starting Feb 2006
  

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:  Selected hospitals in Houston, Texas
INTERNET:  www2.mdanderson.org/app/cbb/
PHONE: 1-800-392-1611, Option #1
STORAGE: M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.  M. D. Anderson Cord Blood Bank is accredited under the international FACT/Netcord standards.

M. D. Anderson hospital has the largest stem cell transplantation program in the world, and in April 2005 they established a cord blood bank.   The bank director is Elizabeth Shpall, M.D., and the laboratory director is John McMannis, Ph.D.  The bank collects umbilical cords from consenting maternity patients at selected hospitals in the Houston area.   As of Sept 2005, the bank had partnerships with the Women’s Hospital of Texas and with Ben Taub General Hospital, both of which are near M. D. Anderson.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM: 15 hospitals throughout Michigan
INTERNET: www.miblood.org/giving_blood/cordblood.html
PHONE: 1-866-642-5663 (ie: 866-MIBLOOD, option #2) or 616-233-8604
STORAGE: Grand Rapids, MI

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, CRIR
DESCRIPTION:
Michigan Cord Blood Bank will mail a collection kit to a qualifying donor if you register at least 12 weeks ahead of your due date and will be delivering at one of the 15 hospitals in the state at which Michigan Community Blood Services operates a blood bank.  These hospitals are:  Bay City, Clare, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Holland, Midland, Muskegon, Niles, Saginaw, St. Joseph, Traverse City, Zeeland.  The parents bring the collection kit to the hospital at delivery time and their OB/Gyn or midwife performs the collection.  The blood bank provides courier service to bring the cord blood to the central laboratory.  The cord blood is processed with a procedure similar to that developed at the NY Blood Center.

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COLLECTS FOR: Research only
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: 
PHONE:
STORAGE: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

DESCRIPTION:
In 2005, a private cord blood bank based in Charleston,  named CureSource, had a partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina "to facilitate the transfer of technology into commercial applications". CureSource provided MUSC with donated cord blood to be used for research.  In 2007, the partnership ended, and later that year CureSource was acquired by Cord Blood America.  It is unknown to this web manager if MUSC is still collecting donations.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:  28 hospitals in New Jersey, 18 hospitals in New York,  1 hospital in Delaware.
INTERNET: www.communitybloodservices.com/cord_blood_1_program.htm
PHONE: 866-SAVCORD
STORAGE: Paramus, NJ

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.

Community Blood Services is first and foremost a non-profit blood bank founded in 1953 and serving the transfusion medicine needs of central New Jersey.  Their public cord blood banking program was originally named after the donor Elie Katz.  Their private cord blood banking services continue to be known as the Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program at Community Blood Services.

As of 18 Oct 2005, New Jersey is the first state to implement a statewide public cord blood bank.  Unlike other states which have paid lip service to the concept, NJ actually has allocated money to process the collections.  NJ Governor Codey created the program by Executive Order.  Initially, the NJ program gave $300,000 each to two stem cell processing laboratories:  Community Blood Services in Paramus and the Coriell Institute in Camden. 

As of 26 May 2007, the program became known as the New Jersey Cord Blood Bank and was consolidated under Community Blood Services (press release).  Coriell transferred its cord blood collection and staff to the control of Community Blood Services.  Coriell continues to conduct stem cell research.

The New Jersey Cord Blood Bank (NJCBB) collects cord blood from hospitals throughout New Jersey, and from some hospitals in New York.  Contact cordblood@cbsblood.org for a current list.  The following hospitals have on-site collection staff, which enables donors to sign up without pre-registration:  

1. Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, NJ
2. St. Clare's Hospital, Danville, NJ
   
3. St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, Paterson, NJ
4. St. Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ
   
5. The Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, NJ
6. Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth, NJ

The NJCBB  also collects donations at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware.  This collection site is possible through a partnership with the Brady Kohn Foundation.

Effective 1 Aug 2007, NJCBB will process all cord blood collections with the automated Sepax system from the Swiss company Biosafe.  The processing components are the Sepax automated cell separation system and the Coolmix  automated mixing and cooling device.  Not only does the Sepax system use a functionally closed, single-use kit that is sterile, but also the system has a fail-safe protocol which stops processing and returns all blood to the original collection bag if the cell recovery is low.    Because the processing kit comes with anti-coagulant already included, it carries BLA licensure from the FDA.  More than 120,000 cord blood units have been processed with the Sepax system worldwide, mostly at public banks.  In their validation of the Sepax system, NJCBB achieved 86% recovery of CD34+ marked stem cells.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:  New York, Virginia, Ohio
INTERNET: www.NationalCordBloodProgram.org 
PHONE: 866-767-NCBP (6227)
STORAGE: New York City, NY

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW
DESCRIPTION:
This bank is a founding member of the Netcord international cord blood bank network.  The NYBC was the first cord blood processing laboratory to be accredited under the international FACT/Netcord standards.

The NY Blood Center, which in 2004 changed the name of its cord blood program to the "National Cord Blood Program", is the world's oldest and most prestigous public cord blood bank.  For many years they could claim to have provided most of the cord blood used in transplants around the world.   At any time, their inventory and number of transplants can be accessed from the Netcord website button "NETCORD inventory".  As of Oct 2006, there have been close to 8000 cord blood transplants worldwide, the cod blood inventory of the NY Blood Center was 31,373, and they had released 2162 units for transplants.

For more information, contact Stephen Sprague or read the NY Blood Center Consent form.
The National Cord Blood Program collects from only five U.S. hospitals, listed in chronological order:

1. Brooklyn Hospital, Brooklyn, NY
2. North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset (Long Island), NY
3. INOVA Hospital, Fairfax, VA
4. New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York City, NY
5. University Hospitals, Cleveland, OH

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.psbc.org/cordblood
PHONE: (206) 292-1896
STORAGE: Seattle, WA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.

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COLLECTS FOR: Research only
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.saneron-ccel.com
PHONE: 813-977-7664
STORAGE: Tampa,  FL  

DESCRIPTION: Saneron CCEL Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology R&D company focused on neurological cell therapy. The private cord blood bank Cryo-Cell International owns 43.2% of Saneron CCEL. Saneron CCEL has a research partnership (announced Dec 2004) with the University of South Florida to develop treatments for spinal cord injury using donated cord blood units.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants for Siblings
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET:  www.chori.org/Services/Sibling_Donor_Cord_Blood_Program
PHONE: (510) 450-7605
STORAGE: Oakland, CA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES:
DESCRIPTION:
The Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program provides FREE cord blood banking to families that may need a transplant for a full sibling in the future.  The Sibling Donor program only covers free cord blood banking; it does not cover the cost of the transplant itself.  In order to be eligible for the Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program, the family must meet one of the following conditions:

• You have a child with a condition that can be treated by stem cell transplant, and you are expecting a baby who will be a full sibling (same parents) to the affected child.
• Prenatal diagnosis indicates that your unborn child is affected with a condition that can be treated by stem cell transplant.
• Your unborn child is at greatly increased risk for a condition that can be treated by stem cell transplant.

From fall 2005 through summer 2007, families must contact this program by calling the private cord blood bank Viacord at the phone number 866-861-8435 (please note this is NOT their general customer number) and request the Sibling Connection Program. 

History:
The Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program was originally established via a grant from the US federal agency the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Insititute (NHLBI) to Children's Hospital of Oakland.  The program had a website at  www.siblingcordblood.org.   However, the NHLBI funding expired in August 2005.  The Sibling Donor Cord Blood Program has been guaranteed federal funding from the new national program of cord blood banking to be initiated under the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program (see the web page on cord blood legislation).  However, this new infusion of federal funding will not commence until 2007.  On 30 May 2006, a press release issued by Viacell announced that they would provide banking services for the Sibling Donor program. 


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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.slcbb.org
PHONE: (888) 453-2673
STORAGE: St. Louis, MO

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank participates in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.

St. Louis Cord Blood Bank accepts cord blood donations from hospitals within a 150 mile radius. Their list of participating hospitals encompasses about 30 hospitals.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants & Research
COLLECTS FROM: California, Ohio, Georgia, Washington D.C., and Taiwan
INTERNET: www.stemcyte.com
PHONE: (866) STEMCYTE
STORAGE: Arcadia, CA

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: BMDW, NMDP, CRIR
DESCRIPTION:
This bank is a Participating Member of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.  StemCyte is accredited under the international FACT/Netcord standards as well as other standards.  StemCyte is the most active bank in the NMDP public network, with a transplant history of providing over 600 cord blood units to over 130 worldwide transplant centers to treat more than 70 diseases (as of Nov 2007).

Stemcyte is a for-profit company, global company, headquartered in California, which collects cord blood donations.  Stemcyte also operates the national cord blood bank of Taiwan, whose units are also listed in the NMDP.     StemCyte Family is a subsidiary of Stemcyte which offers private banking services.  US hospitals which collect donations for Stemcyte are listed below.

California:

• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Oakland, CA
  
• Citrus Valley Medical Center (Queen of the Valley), West Covina, CA
  
• Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Torrance, CA
  
• White Memorial Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
  

Ohio:
Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus

Georgia:
DeKalb Medical Center, Atlanta

Washington, D.C.:
Washington Hospital Center

The StemCyte processing method is different from most cord blood banks.  The proprietary "StemCyte Stem Cell Optimization Process" was developed during the 1990's by researchers participating in the federally-funded COrd Blood Transplantation study (COBLT).  The StemCyte processing method stores plasma-depleted whole blood, rather than separating mononuclear cells by red cell depletion.  StemCyte claims that their units have 90% recovery of MonoNuclear Cells (MNC).

StemCyte also conducts clinical trials.  As of 2006, StemCyte is collaborating with Wise Young, Ph.D., M.D., a reknowned neuroscientist at the Rutgers University W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuoscience.  Together they are cnducting a clinical trial in Taiwan on the use of cord blood to repair Spinal Cod Injury.  

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.bloodntissue.org/texascordbloodbank.asp
PHONE: (800) 292-5534 (Option 8)
STORAGE: San Antonio, Texas

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES: NMDP
DESCRIPTION:
This bank is a Participating Member of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.  This bank is accredited by the AABB.

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COLLECTS FOR: Research only
COLLECTS FROM: University of Arizona Medical Center
INTERNET: No Website
PHONE: 520-626-5125
STORAGE: Tucson, AZ

DESCRIPTION:
The University of Arizona has been collecting cord blood donations since the 1990's to supply research programs in the laboratory of Dr. David T. Harris.  Dr. Harris is a Prof. of Immunobiology at the U. of AZ,  and is also one of the founders and Chief Medical Officer of the family bank, Cord Blood Registry.  His research group is very active in the pursuit of regenerative medicine therapies which may be developed from the stem cells in cord blood. 

The State of Arizona is considering a $30million appropriation (reported in the Phoenix Business Journal 5 March 2007) to fund regenerative medicine research with adult stem cells.  The University of Arizona has launched BIO5: a collaborative bioresearch institute bringing together scientists from 5 disciplines–agriculture, medicine, pharmacy, basic science and engineering.  In April 2007 BIO5 hosted a one-day conference on The Promise of Stem Cells which featured keynote speaker Prof. Colin McGuckin from the U. of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, who has argued that cord blood stem cells are pluripotent.

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COLLECTS FOR: Transplants
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.coloradocord.org
PHONE: (303) 724-1306
STORAGE: Aurora, CO

TRANSPLANT REGISTRIES:
DESCRIPTION:
This bank is a Participating Member of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) cord blood bank network.

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COLLECTS FOR: Research only
COLLECTS FROM:
INTERNET: www.uiowa.edu
PHONE: 319-353-3747
STORAGE: Iowa City, IA

DESCRIPTION: The University of Iowa has started (April 2004) a program to collect cord blood donations specifically for disease research, not transplants. Parents are told that the donations go to research.

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