Family Bank: Biobank Hearts

About

Biobank Hearts is family stem cell bank alliance operating since 2016 in Latvia. Biobank Hearts offers parents a choice between services of Future Health Technologies in UK, or Stemlab S.A.  in Portugal. All services are regulated in accordance with the legislation of Latvia and offered with the utmost care and professionalism at every stage. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Labs and Locations

Future Health Technologies Ltd: 10 Faraday Building, Nottingham Science & Technology Park University Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 2QP United Kingdom 

Stemlab S.A.: Biocant Park, Núcleo 4, Lote 2, 3060-197 Cantanhede, Portugal 

Business Experience

Future Health is a multi-national company founded in 2002 and was the first stem cell bank to receive a UK Human Tissue Authority (HTA) license in 2005. Today, Future Health has stored more samples than all other UK banks combined, and as of 2022 had in excess of 200,000 samples in storage from over 100,000 families in 94 countries, with a presence in over 50 countries worldwide. Future Health is the only cord blood bank to own storage facilities in both the UK and Switzerland. Future Health is highly accredited and has released 125 stem cell samples for treatments and clinical trials to Europe, the Middle East and the US. Future Health has expertise in processing and storing stem cells from dental pulp. The UK laboratory of Future Health is supervised by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) and accredited by the international standards of AABB.

Stemlab began in 2003 as the first private cord blood bank operating in the Iberian Peninsula, and established their own laboratory in 2006. The laboratory now has inventory of more than 90,000 samples stored. FamiCord Group acquired Crioestaminal and Stemlab during summer 2018. Stemlab has the national authorization of the Portuguese Ministry of Health and is accredited by the international standards of AABB.

Collection Kit

Future Health provides its clients with a purpose built collection kit containing all of the necessary components required to collect perinatal blood and tissues. Included within the kit is a specially designed cord blood collection bag packed in individual aluminum sterile packaging. Also provided, is a bespoke cord tissue collection kit, containing an antimicrobial tablet and a transportation preservation solution, to ensure the sample returns to the laboratory in the optimum state.

Stemlab collection kit contains everything the healthcare provider needs to easily and safely collect the maximum amount of a newborn's cord blood following birth. The collection kit has: an instant cooling system; a cord blood collection bag pre-filled with citrate-phosphate-dextrose with adenine (CPDA-1), an anti-coagulant that also functions as a cell preservative, in appropriate volume; a container for cord tissue; maternal blood collection kit; and a disinfecting kit. All the components of the kit are sterile.

Transportation container

Future Health transports cord blood and cord tissue in a thermally insulated shipping box. It is fully tested to ISTA 7D and 3A standards for protection against adverse temperature. The container includes evaporative cooling system and a temperature data logger to monitor shipping conditions.

Stemlab provides a transport container that includes a thermally insulated shipping box designed in-house to control temperature during transportation. The container includes an instant cooling system, to stabilize temperature, and a temperature data logger, to monitor shipping conditions. Samples remain at room temperature and are shipped directly to the laboratory for processing.

Processing Method

Future Health processes cord blood by manual volume reduction method. Future Health is the only bank in the UK to have its own in-house serology and PCR laboratories which perform tests for infectious diseases on the blood. Future Health also uses flow cytometry to report to parents the number of stem cells successfully stored within the sample.

Stemlab processes cord blood using a fully automated, closed processing technology, designed for the separation of the stem cell enriched fraction of the blood via a volume reduction method that reduces red cells and plasma content. Samples from all components of the cord blood are kept as part of the stored samples. Maternal blood tests for viral contamination are carried out using Serology and Nucleic Acid Testing (by real time PCR). Parents receive a report of the Number of Total Nucleated Cells (TNC), mononuclear cells and CD34+ cells, and cell viability. The blood type of the baby is determined.

Components Stored

Future Health provides with a certificate of storage detailing their unique identity code, the volume of blood stored, stem cell counts, and confirmation of the cord tissue viability. All clients are also provided with the maternal blood test results and the outcome of the microbial-contamination testing.

Stemlab stores a stem cell enriched fraction of the cord blood in a cryobag consisting of two compartments (one with 80% of the sample and the other with 20 %) and three attached segments used for testing. At the time of storage, the parents are provided with a certificate of storage which includes the number of viable leukocytes (CD45+) and Stem Cell (CD34+) count, and results of maternal blood test and bacterial and fungal contamination. Additionally, Stemlab stores samples of plasma, red blood cells, cord tissue and maternal plasma in a maternal-fetal bank.

Storage Method

Future Health: Biobank clients that have chosen laboratory processing with Future Health have a choice between long-term storage either in the UK or in Switzerland

Stemlab adds a cryo-preservative to the processed cord blood the units and they are cooled down in a computer controlled rate freezing device. At the end of the procedure the cord blood units are stored suspended above a pool of liquid nitrogen that creates a vapor phase of cryogenic nitrogen keeping the environment close to minus 196ºC. This keeps the units cold and eliminates the risk of contamination between samples. The storage condition parameters of the freezer tanks are continuously recorded (24 hours a day, 365 days a year) and emits alerts when a change occur. All samples are identified by a bar coded label, that is registered in a data base to allow for the rapid recovery of the unit when needed.

Licensing & Accreditation

Future Health Technologies is one of the most accredited stem cell bank in the UK. At present Future Health Technologies maintains the following licenses and accreditations:

• Human Tissue Authority (HTA) License (no. 22503)
• Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
• Blood Establishment Authorisation ISO:9001
• AABB accreditation
• Prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise and International Trade

Stemlab maintains standards for cellular therapy services through AABB accreditation. Stemlab has the national authorization of the Portugese Ministry of Health, according to European directives for cell and tissue banks, and is certified for the quality management of its processes and systems by the international standards ISO 9001:2000.

Clinical Experience

Future Health has released 9 cord blood samples successfully for therapies to Europe, the Middle East and the US. These samples have been used to treat conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, Fanconi’s Anaemia, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) and Beta Thalassemia. In addition, Future Health has released stem cells for a total of 125 successful clinical therapies.

Stemlab has released 8 cord blood samples for 13 transplants:

• 1 sample was used in an allogeneic transplant in a sibling to treat a Severe Combined Immuno-Deficiency (SCID)
• 7 samples were used in autologous therapy, in the context of experimental treatments to help treat Cerebral Palsy

Insurance

Future Health maintains an insurance-backed disaster recovery program, which allows the transference of the samples to a suitably HTA-licensed cryogenic storage facility within the UK in the highly unlikely event of a disaster at one of the company’s storage sites.

Stemlab has a disaster recovery plan which allows that all cryopreservation tanks are relocated to another licensed facility if any disastrous event should occur.​   

Community Service

Future Health Technologies is proud to offer a range of discounts designed to make stem cell banking accessible for everybody. These include special discounts for immediate use cases.

Stemlab has a program for families that have been identified with a medical condition for which stem cells from cord blood can be potentially used. The program offers free cord blood processing and storage for qualifying families.

Prices

Please contact Biobank Hearts to get info on price packages provided in Latvia.

Additional Services

Cord Tissue banking is a standard part of the services with both bank choices.

Future Health offers collection, processing and storage of fragments of the umbilical cord tissue. It is also the only bank in the UK to perform viability testing on all cord tissue samples to ensure the cells are healthy and viable.

Stemlab also offers the collection, processing and storage of the umbilical cord tissue, with a choice of two methods:

1. The standard method, that stores fragments of the cord tissue;
2. The extraction method, that stores the stem cells extracted from the surrounding umbilical cord tissue (mesenchymal stem cells or MNC).