The Cord Blood Bank

Last Thursday I went to the London Regenerative Medicine Network meeting. It was kick started with a talk on banking umbilical cord blood stem cells.  David Macauley, Chief Executive of  the Virgin Health Bank, gave the talk. 

The bank is a collaboration between Richard Branson's Virgin group and Merlin Biosciences and the idea is for mothers to put umbilical cord blood into the bank, where it is stored at -196 degrees C. A proportion of the cord blood is saved for private use by the family and the rest for the public. 

In a video clip of Richard Branson, he said: "This is something I'm absolutely passionate about...I think we can save lives." The umbilical cord blood is a source of stem cells which can be used to treat paediatric disorders, such as leukemia and sickle cell disease.

To store the cord blood it would cost £1500 per individual. Macauley made a point of telling everyone that the project was "truly ethical" and that it was not a profit making business. 

Professor Pete Coffey gave a talk also, on his aim to deliver a human stem cell therapy for a particular cause of blindness called age-related macular degeneration by 2011.