Breakthroughs In Stem Cell Research

There has been an interesting medical discovery recently. It’s been long known that umbilical cord blood is a good source of stem cells which have been proven to treat 70 different diseases, such as leukemia, neuroblastoma, lymphoma, and sickle cell anemia. However, an obvious problem with umbilical cord blood stem cells is the supply is quite limited. They can only be collected at birth, and the amount collected is typically only enough to treat a child. I didn't even get a chance to save my baby's umbilical cord blood due to lack of information.

A company called CryoCell has announced in a CryoCell Press Release that adding stem cells from menstrual blood to cord blood greatly enhances the yield of cord blood stem cells and progenitor cells (which grow into blood cells). This is great news in that it potentially greatly expands the limited source of cord blood stem cells in a non-controversial method.

This is not their first such discovery. CryoCell has also demonstrated that menstrual stem cells have the capability to differentiate into other important cells, such as bone, cartilage, fat, nerve and cardiogenic cells, which can potentially be transplanted back into the donor or her close relative. CryoCell now offers a service called Celle to collect and preserve the stem cells from members of the general public.