News

Feb 2015   Regenerative medicine is a new field of medicine that offers new hope for many patients. Stem cells have the capability to induce tissue repair and ultimately reverse the progression of many diseases. This field unveils new possibilities for the alleviation of many incurable diseases.

Jan 2015   The Cord Blood Association (CBA) is a new trade and professional association for cord blood banks. The CBA will be an international nonprofit organization that promotes the banking and use of umbilical cord blood and related tissues for disease treatment and regenerative therapies. 

Jan 2015   The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA was first formed in 1906, but in 1938 then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a new Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) which greatly increased the power of the FDA. Soon after 1938, the FDA began to designate certain drugs as safe for use only under the supervision of a medical professional, and this category of "prescription-only" drugs was securely codified into law by the 1951 Durham-Humphrey Amendment.

Dec 2014   Nina and Zach Miller were the first parents from the United States to take their daughter Josephine, who has cerebral palsy, to South Korea for therapy with donated cord blood. The Millers participated in a registered cliical trial at the CHA Bundang Medical Center.

Dec 2014   Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD) is a common and serious complication following a stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor. GvHD is divided into acute and chronic form according to the clinical course and time of the diagnosis. It is a life-threatening condition, which contributes greatly to early mortality after stem cell transplants. Survivors may suffer organ damage and have impaired quality of life.

Nov 2014   Very early in the field of cord blood banking, laboratories that process cord blood for storage began removing most of the plasma (plasma depletion) and the red blood cells (RBC depletion) before cryopreserving the remaining component of the blood that holds the stem cells.

Nov 2014   Thalassemias are blood disorders passed down through families (inherited) in which the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Thalassemia disorders result in large numbers of red blood cells being destroyed, which leads to anemia.

Oct 2014   A suitable cord blood match (HLA match of 4 out of 6 or better) is available from Be The Match for nearly every US patient under age 20 and for more than 80% of patients age 20 and over, regardless of racial or ethnic background. The challenge at this point is how best to apply the limited resources of the Be The Match organization to find matches for the remaining patients, who are predominantly ethnic minorities and mixed race individuals.

Oct 2014   Canada prides itself on being a 'mosaic culture' and thus many children are born with mixed ethnicities. As we know, people in this population have a difficult time finding a bone marrow donor; access to cord blood stem cells is vital to this group.

Sep 2014   Adriana was born in Italy in 2009 after an in vitro fertilization and her parents were finally achieving the dream of their lives. Everything appeared to be fine with the pregnancy until the last moment when the mother started to feel contractions and ran to the clinic. She had forgotten to bring the kit for storing cord blood stem cells, but luckily Francesco from SmartBank reached them at the clinic right on time.