Stem Cell and Umbilical Cord Blood Information

Shaquille O’Neal Joins “Be The Match” Campaign

Sarah — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:42:33 +0000

For the “Do Something Big” campaign, Shaquille O’Neal will ask Americans to “Be the one to save a life.” Three public service announcements will start airing on television and the Internet starting this month.

“There’s nothing bigger than life – not when someone you love is fighting to live,” O’Neal said. “That’s why I’m letting people know they have the power to save a life by joining the Be The Match Registry.”

For thousands of people battling leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases, a bone marrow transplant offers their best hope for a cure. 70% of these patients don’t have a matching donor in their families, so they depend on the Be The Match Registry, the world’s largest and most diverse listing of potential marrow donors, to find that life-saving match.

“Shaq is an American icon who’s respected for his talents, on and off the court,” said Jeffrey W. Chell, M.D., chief executive officer of the National Marrow Donor Program, which operates the Be The Match Registry. “We’re honored that he is championing our mission and advocating for patients who are searching for a marrow match.”

Where to Donate Cord Blood In California

Sarah — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:30:58 +0000

The list below shows hospitals in California that actively collect cord blood for public cord blood banks that are part of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Network of banks.

Long Beach Memorial Center
Long Beach, CA StemCyte International Cord Blood Center

http://www.stemcyte.com

White Memorial Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA StemCyte International Cord Blood Center

http://www.stemcyte.com

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center
Oakland, CA StemCyte International Cord Blood Center

http://www.stemcyte.com

St. Joseph’s Hospital of Orange
Orange, CA Children’s Hospital of Orange County
(714) 516-4335

http://www.choc.org/services

Torrance Memorial Medical Center
Torrance, CA StemCyte International Cord Blood Center

StemCyte Opens First Stem Cell Bank In India

Sarah — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:38:19 +0000

One of the world’s prominent cord blood banks and biotherapies companies, StemCyte Inc. USA, recently announced that it will be opening its first umbilical cord blood stem cell banking facility at Apollo Hospital in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar district.

It will be the first cord blood bank facility in India which shall be used both for public and family donor purposes, an official statement said.

The stem cell bank is a tri-partite venture between StemCyte India Therapeutics, Apollo and Indravadan Modi led Cadilla Pharma, it said.

“The company plans to build an inventory of 25,000 ethnically diverse units here to help treat critically ill patients in India and abroad and we will also facilitate stem cell transplantation through Apollo,” President StemCyte Therapeutics Tushar Dalal said.

Stem Cell Trial For Cerebral Palsy Begins

Sarah — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:41:55 +0000

American researchers are starting a clinical trial to determine whether stem cells from umbilical cord blood can help children with cerebral palsy. The researchers, who are working at the Medical College of Georgia, said their study represents the first such U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trial. The study will include 40 children age 2-12 whose parents have stored cord blood at the Cord Blood Registry in Tucson, Ariz.

Animal studies indicate that infused stem cells help injured brain cells recover and replace brain cells that have died. While no controlled clinical trials have been conducted to date, previous studies have shown marked improvement in children with cerebral palsy about three months after an initial infusion of cord blood.

“Evidence up to this point has been purely anecdotal,” said Dr. James Carroll, a professor at the college’s school of medicine. “While a variety of cord blood stem cell therapies have been used successfully for more than 20 years, this study is breaking new ground in advancing therapies for brain injury, a condition for which there is currently no cure.”

Scientists Can Grow Bacon From Stem Cells

Sarah — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:28:09 +0000

Well, at least they are headed in that direction. To make meat production more humane, and to help slow global warming due to livestock over-farming, scientists from Denmark have developed a way to grow edible meat in the lab, from the stem cells of pigs. The petrie dish meat doesn’t yet taste or look very much like pork, but the possibilities for the new technology on the world’s food supply could be significant.

What does this new meat look and feel like at this stage of development? The scientists say it has the consistency and feel of scallop.

“If we took the stem cells from one pig and multiplied it by a factor of a million, we would need one million fewer pigs to get the same amount of meat,” said Mark Post, a biologist at Maastricht University involved in the project.

LifeShare Blood Centers Promoting Cord Blood Collection

Sarah — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:30:34 +0000

LifeShare Blood Centers will continue promoting a cord blood bank pilot program and step up efforts to register bone marrow donors this year.

LifeShare partnered with Women’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, where 14% of all Louisiana babies are born, in 2008 for the pilot program. Umbilical cords contain stem cells that can be used in transplants to treat more than 70 diseases, many of them cancers and blood disorders.

Since June, LifeShare has collected 154 cord blood units. Besides promoting the cord blood bank, LifeShare will try to increase awareness about its role in recruiting bone marrow donors this year.

Embryo Ruling Good For Stem Cell Research

Sarah — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:22:54 +0000

A ruling from the Irish Supreme Court has reignited that country’s debate over the legal status of human embryos, confirming the legality of research with human embryonic stem cells but leaving such work in a regulatory limbo that may not be resolved soon. On 15 December, the court ruled that human embryos outside the womb are not “unborn” and therefore are not protected under the country’s constitution. The case before the court, in which a woman wanted to implant frozen embryos against the wishes of her estranged husband, does not directly involve stem cell research, but an opposite ruling could have made such work unconstitutional.

Stem Cells Can Kill HIV-Infected Cells

Sarah — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:30:54 +0000

Researchers at the AIDS Institute at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) have recently announced that they have found a type of stem cells that could fight against HIV. The cells can be activated so that they immediately start looking for and attacking all cells that have been infected with the HIV retrovirus.

The abilities displayed by these human blood stem cells could be used in the near future to create cures for a large number of chronic viral diseases, PhysOrg reports.

“We have demonstrated in this proof-of-principle study that this type of approach can be used to engineer the human immune system, particularly the T-cell response, to specifically target HIV-infected cells. These studies lay the foundation for further therapeutic development that involves restoring damaged or defective immune responses toward a variety of viruses that cause chronic disease, or even different types of tumors,” AIDS Institute member Scott G. Kitchen says.

UCLA Professor of Medicine and AIDS Institute Associate Director Jerome A. Zack says that the next step is to test this approach on more complex animal models, such as primates, before finally moving ahead with human trials.

“This approach could be used to combat a variety of chronic viral diseases. It’s like a genetic vaccine,” Zack adds. He is also a professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the university. This strategy, analysts say, could be the first in a long row of ideas that may actually hold promise in defeating HIV/AIDS, as well as a number of other chronic viral infections.

Pfizer Acquires Stem-Cell Therapy From Athersys

Sarah — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:43:31 +0000

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer recently announced that it was buying the rights to a controversial cell therapy from Athersys, a biotech company. This is all part of the corporations plan to become more involved in the ever-growing interest in stem cell therapies and research.

The acquisition will give Pfizer rights to develop Athersys’s cells to treat inflammatory bowel disease. It will pay Athersys $6 million initially and up to $105 million in the future.

The relatively small payment reflects that “it’s really early for cell therapy and there’s more research to be done,” said Ruth McKernan, chief scientific officer of Pfizer Regenerative Medicine, a unit created by the company about 18 months ago to develop treatments based on stem cells.

Cord Blood Stem Cells Market Will Hit US$15 Billion By 2015

Sarah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:59:04 +0000

According to the report “Cord Blood Stem Cells: A Global Market Overview” available at http://www.reportbuyer.com/go/INX00004 umbilical cord and placenta, once considered medical waste have emerged to be a valuable source of stem cells. The cord blood stem cells show the potential to treat fatal diseases such as leukemia, cardiac attacks and debilitating diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Cord blood stem cells are also widely used in therapies such as blood disorders, bone and tissue engineering, dermatology.

Global cord blood stem cells market for 2010 is estimated at about US$4.5 billion. The market is further projected to register a robust CAGR of 27.3% during the period 2006-2015 to reach US$15 billion by 2015. The report provides a listing of the companies engaged in collection, processing and banking of cord blood stem cells. This list also includes the companies engaged in the treatment of deadly diseases using CB stem cells.