Sophie Edward (age 8), who has been suffering from a rare form of leukemia underwent stem cell treatment three months ago and is making progress. Leukemia is a cancer that affects the blood cells and is unfortunately one of the more common cancers found in children. Regular control mechanisms in the blood break down and [...]

California state Legislature is considering a bill that would increase funding for the collection of umbilical cord blood, instrumental in treatment of many life-threatening diseases that is in short supply for minorities, especially Latinos and Armenians, officials say. The Assembly Committee on Appropriations is slated to take up the funding proposal in a bill written [...]

Human embryonic cells could be incredibly important for the treatment of a number of serious illnesses that usually cause tissue damage. Diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and heart disease. These embryonic stem cells are capable of differentiation to all cell types of the adult human body under specific conditions. This ability has earned them [...]

Once removed from the umbilical cord and properly cryogenically frozen and preserved, cord blood should last forever. Again, this cannot be confirmed as the concept of this umbilical cord blood banking is relatively new. It started in the 1970s and as of yet there isn’t sufficient evidence available that will definitively prove that your babys [...]

Earlier this year, President Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research with many scientists hailing the decision as a fantastic boost for stem cell research, one of the most promising fields of research in medicine. Since that signing, there have been several that have concluded that the plan could have [...]

Interested in the process behind umbilical cord blood storage? Here is an overview of how stem cells are preserved after being taken from the umbilical cord. The cord blood is stored in specially designed bags or syringes and couriered to the blood bank centre, where it is then labeled with the donors name, date of [...]

Researchers from the University of Louisville claim to have reached a point in their studies that show by successfully generating new cells in retina, stem cells can restore damage retinal tissue. These incredible findings are a huge step toward helping people who experience vision loss and blindness as a result of age-related macular degeneration and [...]

A pharmaceutical research company based in Japan, Dnavec Corp. has created a new method of designing human stem cells with a significantly lower risk of cancer. Dnavec has successfully created human induced pluripotent stem cells using a virus that won’t change the cells’ DNA. As a consequence of this, there are lowered odds the cells [...]

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send the impulses to the muscle fibers that would usually result in muscle movement. Approximately 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed [...]

Cord Blood America, an umbilical cord blood stem cell preservation company, has received a commitment for up to $2.3 million to either buy or build its own laboratory for the purpose of storing of multiple stem cell products including umbilical cord blood stem cells. About $300,000 of the funding has already been received by the [...]