Did you know that not all cord blood banks process & store umbilical cord tissue the same way? The majority of the cord blood banks store the cord tissue as a single whole piece or in little pieces. Where HealthBanks distinguishes itself is that in 2008, we were the first cord blood bank to offer advanced MSC cord tissue processing where we isolate Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) from the umbilical cord tissue. Once isolated, we culture the cells to grow in large numbers & then cryopreserve them. The reason for this is that processing the cord tissue before being cryopreserved directly affects how many stem cells are viable at the time the stem cells are used. Research studies have shown that MSC cell viability from fresh cord tissue is 8 times better than from frozen cord tissue.
It’s long been established that the umbilical cord is one of the most concentrated sources of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs). MSCs can differentiate into a number of specialized cell types & are among the most frequently used for regenerative medicine. MSCs are being researched for potential treatments for osteoarthritis & sports injuries as well as cell therapies to damaged tissue & organ cells including cardiac, nerve, cartilage, bone & muscle cells. There are over 300 on-going clinical trials (ClinicalTrials.gov) that are using MSCs for therapeutic purposes & over 6,000 articles published so far which further shows the huge opportunities of using MSC in future cell-based therapies.