Silva Lab Isolates Stem Cells from Umbilical Cord Blood

Silva Lab Isolates Stem Cells from Umbilical Cord Blood

There was nothing unusual about the birth of a baby girl in Sacramento one Friday afternoon late in October, 2012.  This birth was special, however, because just a few hours later both Priscilla Williams (BME & DEB graduate student) and Eduardo Silva (BME & DEB Assistant Professor) were busy isolating stem cells from the baby’s umbilical cord blood. The Silva Lab is one of the first recipients of cord blood from the recently established Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program.

The Silva Lab’s current project will isolate vascular progenitor cells from the cord blood with the premise that they can investigate and develop new strategies to actively direct their homing in vivo. In the near future, Silva’s group will isolate not only vascular progenitor cells but also other progenitor and stem cell populations. For example, in the next couple of months the Silva Lab and Scott Simon’s Lab will collaborate to develop strategies to isolate hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and HSC-containing Lin−Sca-1+c-Kit+ (LSK) from cord blood.

“The ability to isolate and store stem cells within the Biomedical Engineering Department offers not only many new research opportunities for the Silva Lab but also for all the biomedical engineering community,” said Prof. Silva.

The Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program (UCBCP), administered by the UC Davis Health System, is a new statewide public program designed to capture the genetic diversity of Californians through collection of cord blood units (CBUs) for unrelated transplantation. The stem cells in cord blood have been used to treat and cure patients who have various diseases such as blood disorders, cancers such as leukemia, and some immune system disorders. The research done with stem cells can be vital to figuring out the cures and/or treatments for even more diseases.

Upstate breaks ground for umbilical cord blood bank

Upstate breaks ground for umbilical cord blood bank


SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Upstate Medical University will begin construction on a $15 million Upstate Cord Blood Bank that will collect, process and store umbilical cord blood donated by families throughout Central and northern New York to be used by those in need of life-saving medical treatments and for medical research. State Sen. John DeFrancisco played a key role in securing the $15 million funding for the building, enabling Syracuse to have one of the only two public cord blood banks in New York.

Umbilical cord blood is blood that remains in the placenta and umbilical cord after childbirth. It is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells that have the potential of being used in the treatment of dozens of diseases, like cancer and sickle cell.

Upstate President David R. Smith, M.D., heralded the addition of a public cord blood bank in Upstate New York. “The opportunity to bring a public cord blood bank to Upstate New York is significant in so many ways,” he said. “Through the donations of cord blood from families all across our region, we have the ability to save lives through transplantation and further fuel biomedical research that may move us closer to finding breakthroughs for dozens of diseases. Being able to develop this cord blood bank and make it a resource for our greater community, speaks to the very core of the mission of Upstate Medical University.”

The two-story building will be between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet and be located on Upstate’s Community Campus at 4900 Broad Road, Syracuse. Upstate provides obstetric services on the Community Campus, and also is home to the Regional Perinatal Center, which offers advance perinatal care to patients throughout Upstate New York.

The building’s design and construction work and equipment is made possible by a $15 million state grant obtained by DeFrancisco.

“Syracuse now will have one of only 27 public umbilical cord blood banks in the country,” DeFranciso said. “It is an exciting opportunity for Central New York to lead our state by building a facility that can save the lives of children, like Jared Saya and Luca Vassallo. (Saya and Vassallo are area residents who received treatments with umbilical cord blood.)

“Across the country, cord blood stem cells have been used in treating many illnesses including leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, lymphomas, inherited red cell abnormalities and other cancers. Now, doctors in Upstate New York will be able to use the umbilical cord, and its stem cells—that would otherwise be discarded as medical waste—for valuable life-saving treatments and research,” DeFrancisco said.

The state Health Department will develop a program to make expectant mothers and the public more aware of umbilical cord blood banking.

“We appreciate the leadership and vision of Sen. DeFrancisco, who has helped efforts to publicize the benefits of cord blood donation and making the Cord Blood Bank a reality for Central New York,” Smith said.

Designation as a public cord blood bank

The designation of Upstate Cord Blood Bank as a public blood bank is important in that there is no cost to donate and donated cord blood is available to anyone who needs it.

Once donated, the cord blood will be stored in the bank and made available to transplant centers in the United States and throughout the world for patients needing life-saving transplants. The cord blood units will be listed on the Be The Match registry, which maintains a large listing of cord blood units available for transplant. Those units that are not suitable for transplantation will be made available to researchers, both at Upstate Medical University and around the country.

Unlike a public cord blood bank, private banks are for-profit organizations that charge fees to collect, process and store a baby’s umbilical cord blood for the exclusive use for the families who made the donation. Public cord blood banks do not charge fees and make stem cells available for anyone who needs them.

When the Upstate Cord Blood Bank opens, it will be one of only two public cord blood banks in New York. The other is the National Cord Blood Program in Long Island City, N.Y.

The Upstate Cord Blood Bank will operate under strict guidelines and protocols, established by state and federal health organizations, including the state Health Department, the Food and Drug Administration and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy.

Upstate will work with hospitals in the Upstate region to develop guidelines and agreements to enable mothers who deliver in this area the ability to donate their cord blood for free. Cord blood that is not donated is discarded as medical waste.

Upstate officials hope the cord blood bank will receive donations from 10,000 births a year. That would represent 50 percent of the approximately 20,000 births in Central New York annually. The Upstate Cord Blood Bank will begin accepting donations once it opens in the fall of 2014.

How is cord blood donated

Once a mother has delivered her baby and after the umbilical cord is cut and clamped, a medical provider will insert a syringe into the umbilical vein that is still attached to the placenta. The process, which takes less than 15 minutes, yields about 3 to 5 ounces of cord blood, which is then sent to a cord blood bank for processing and storage.

Treatments with cord blood

Stem cell transplants from umbilical cord blood, researchers say, may be more suitable for transplants than the more common stem cells taken from bone marrow as treatment for various cancers. Umbilical cord blood has an underdeveloped immune cell system providing less of a chance that the transplanted cells will attack the recipient’s immune system.

Hematopoietic stem cells are capable of forming all different types of blood forming cells in the human body. They are used to treat some cancers, metabolic disorders and immunodeficiency diseases, such as sickle cell anemia. Cord blood is rich in these hematopoietic stem cells.

Research with cord blood

Umbilical cord blood stem cells are valuable to medical research, especially in studies seeking to advance new treatments for cancer. Nearly a dozen Upstate researchers are using stem cells from umbilical cord blood in their research or have expressed an interest in working with them. An available supply of cord blood would enhance and expedite research studies on finding new treatments for various diseases.

Upstate Cord Blood Bank credits: Architect: Francis Cauffman. Engineer: CRB Engineers. Construction Manager: The Pike Company. Project consultants: Nicholas Greco, Ph.D, of the National Center for Regenerative Medicine at Case Western Reserve University; and Karen Snyder, M.Ed, from KLS Consulting & Project Management.

A Planned and Affordable Way to Store Umbilical Cord Stem Blood

A Planned and Affordable Way to Store Umbilical Cord Stem Blood

According to local health officials, a lot of money is charged by private firms for storing umbilical cord stem cells. Reason behind this is lack of inventory publicly available. To overcome the issue, government has decided to set up a government authorized system.

There are four hospitals from Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto each that will be participating in the first ever stem cell treatment in Canada. The Ottawa Hospital will initiate collecting umbilical cord blood for this treatment in Canada's first national public bank, Quebec.

Well, Quebec run its own program by the name of Héma-Quebec, but has decided to collect the samples for the rest of the country as well.

Till now, the bank has been given $48 million by the government. This fund has been raised from different provinces and territories of Canada.

According to information, it will be during the spring season in 2013, when Ottawa will begin with its umbilical cord blood collecting process. Following it, other hospitals will start in 2014.

Umbilical cord blood plays a magical role in safeguarding life. Recently, an eight-year-old Alysha Dykstra, who was diagnosed with severe leukemia four years ago, is now in remission after being given the umbilical cord blood.

Babycell reports spurt in demand to store umbilical cords

As if monsoon discounts and off-season FMCG showers are not enough, a stem cell bank has packaged one such plan for babies that will be born on August 15.

Regenerative Medical Services Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of the Mumbai-based active pharma ingredients manufacturer Satyan Pharmaceuticals P Ltd, said it had seen 25 per cent rise in parents enrolling to store their due-in-August babies' umbilical cord blood cells after it offered earlier this month an 85 per cent cut for Independence Day births.

The average monthly strike rate for RMS's cord blood stem cell banking arm Babycell was 275 enrolments, according to Mr Satyen Sanghavi, Chief Scientist of the family-owned RMS.

Pan-India, “cord blood stem cell banking has an annual growth rate of 230 per cent. Since we started operating in 2009, 2500 people have enrolled with us,” said Mr Sanghavi.

Among Babycell's customers are a vegetable vendor from Vashi, TV artistes, celebrities and companies.

The demand among parents to store their unborn child's umbilical cord cells at birth was only going up, he said, even as the draft guidelines on stem cell research and banking await approval. Started in November 2009, Babycell generates 60 per cent of RMS's turnover — which includes another regenerative stream, that of therapies using adult stem cells.

It was partly this growth of the cord blood stem cell banking that was driving Babycell to new cities and towns. “We are now focussing on the South and East. Although there are three major companies in the South we expect to do 35 per cent of sales from the South by 2012,” Mr Sanghavi said.

Apart from Fortis and boutique child-birth clinic Cradle in Bangalore, Babycell is in talks to tie up with top hospitals for connecting with parents-to-be; and with diagnostic labs which would be collection franchisees in Coimbatore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Patna, Nagpur and Nashik. The samples are screened and stored at the Rs 25-crore Lonavla lab.

Through its technology tie-up with South Korea's Sewon Cellontech, RMS provides cellular therapies that re-grow tissues from adult cells. Mr Sanghavi said hospitals used them to treat burns, wounds, knee joint problems, pain, cosmetic and gynaecological procedures. “There is a huge potential for stem cell therapies that can treat 75 diseases from leukaemia, thalassemia to diabetes and brain injury. It is wrong to say there are too many cord blood banks. In fact, by 2015, there would be 15 registered companies compared to the present seven or eight,” Mr Sanghavi added.

National cord blood bank to launch in Ottawa

National cord blood bank to launch in Ottawa
Ottawa hospital to start collecting stem cells, followed by Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver
CBC News Posted: Nov 5, 2012 6:33 PM ET Last Updated: Nov 5, 2012 7:33 PM ET
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National cord blood bank to get $48M
The Ottawa Hospital will be the first of four participating hospitals to start collecting umbilical cord blood for stem cell treatments in Canada's first national public bank.

While Quebec has its own program called Héma-Quebec, this bank for the rest of the country will involve hospitals in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton.

There has been $48 million in government funding from Canada's provinces and territories for the bank.

Ottawa will start collecting umbilical cord blood in the spring of 2013, while the hospitals in other cities will follow suit sometime in 2014.

The national public umbilical cord blood bank is starting with stem cells tested in Ottawa. (CBC)
Recently, families have been paying a lot for private firms to store their own umbilical cord stem cells, according to local health officials, because there has been a lack of inventory publicly available.

For eight-year-old Alysha Dykstra, umbilical cord blood was a life-saver. The Guelph, Ont., resident was diagnosed with severe leukemia four years ago but her cancer is now in remission.

"Had Alysha not had that cord blood, and gone ahead with the [bone marrow] transplant ... we'd be in a very different position right now," said her mother Karen Dykstra.

Stem cells from umbilical cords cause fewer complications and they can be stored in a bank, which makes them a very important tool, according to Dr. Jack Kitts, president and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital.

All the hospitals will collect, test and store the stem cells from their blood banks thanks to bio-archives, which cryogenically store all the blood from donated umbilical cords.

The forthcoming umbilical cord blood bank will be able to hold 8,000 samples and Canadian Blood Services hopes to fill the archives in less than eight years.