News

Jan 2022   Lisa Maxson celebrated the 10th anniversary of her double cord blood transplant in Dec. 2021. She is alive today thanks to two mothers who decided to donate the umbilical cord blood of their babies. Lisa feels it is time to pay forward the gift of life that she has received, by advocating and volunteering for other patients like herself.

Jan 2022   During the Coronavirus pandemic, Iran has been the #3 country in the world in numbers of clinical trials to treat COVID-19 with cell therapy. Iran is home to a a thriving community of academic research on stem cells, as well as the mixed public and private cord blood bank Royan Stem Cell Technology. Royan fulfills public health needs in Iran by providing stem cells for transplant patients, especially families that have a child with Thalassemia and need to store cord blood for a sibling transplant.

Dec 2021   Vladomir suffered oxygen deprivation at birth, and this left him nearly blind. At age 11, Vladomir was treated with cells from both the cord blood and the cord tissue of his baby brother, with the two types of cell therapy spaced six months apart. The cord tissue MSC were injected into his spinal cord and into his eyes. Today, at age 13, Vladomir can see well enough to attend a regular school, ride a bicycle in traffic, and he participates fully in the activities of a normal teenager.

Dec 2021   Keratitis is an inflammation of the cornea that can be treated by surgical application of a wound dressing made from amniotic membrane. This article reports on a study in Ukraine where clinicians that specialize in eye disorders collaborated with a biobank supplying cryopreserved amniotic membrane. Within 3 months after surgery, 96% of patients had fully recovered.

Nov 2021   We have put together a Parent's Guide to the Duke Expanded Access Program. This program offers compassionate access to cord blood cell therapy for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including Cerebral Palsy and Autism. Many aspects of this program are not clear to parents, and have been misrepresented by critics. The heart of this article is a table listing all of Duke's relevant cord blood clinical trials and their outcomes. 

Nov 2021   The Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) is an inspiring partner of World Cord Blood Day 2021. FACT invites you to view a four-episode series of videos on why choosing a FACT-accredited cord blood bank is important when donating or storing your child’s cord blood stem cells.

Oct 2021   The top family cord blood banks in the United States have slashed their prices, making cord blood storage more affordable for more families.

Oct 2021   Cell therapies are being used to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS). A new clinical trial tests the cord blood product DUOC-01 as a treatment for primary progressive MS. Meanwhile, autologous stem cell transplants (HSCT) are now a standard of care for some patients with relapsing remitting MS.

Sep 2021   Cord blood banking is especially important for babies conceived with assisted reproductive technologies, such as egg or sperm (gamete) donors.

Sep 2021   Public cord blood banks may become sources of raw material for biotherapies. But first, challenges must be overcome. The immune cells in cord blood are very different from the immune system of an adult, and we must find out if this can be used to advantage. A technical challenge is that residual red blood cells must be thoroughly removed from cryopreserved cord blood before it can be used as a source for T-cell therapies.