News
Cord Blood Brings New Hope for Children with Cystic fibrosis
The O’Neill family from Cambridge are the first New Zealanders to take part in a ground breaking medical study into cystic fibrosis, thanks to the generosity of CordBank. The O’Neills decided to bank the cord blood of their second son, Lenny, in the hope that it may one day be able to help treat his…
New Zealand Honorary Knight gives $10M towards US cord blood work
A foundation established by Julian Robertson, New Zealand’s first honorary knight and prominent philanthropist, has given $10.2 million to Duke University in the USA to advance the use of cord blood as a therapy. Robertson, who is renowned for his philanthropy and investment in New Zealand, has over the last 15 years developed two luxury…
Stem Cells and Cornea Repair
Major news outlets recently reported research demonstrating that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a specific type of stem cell with unique properties, restored transparency to the cloudy corneas of laboratory mice. The data, presented by researchers during the American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting in December 2009, suggests that transplantation of umbilical MSCs could be…
Cord Blood Banks are Not Stem Cell Clinics
A recent story filed by Agence France-Presse (AFP), a Paris-based news service, offered a very misleading perspective on the current state of cord blood banking as well as the legitimate medical use of cord blood stem cells. In essence, the reporter failed to recognize the difference between overseas “stem cell clinics” offering “unproven cures” and…
Information on children who have used their own cord blood
Francis Verter founded the Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood website in 1998. Since its launch, it has provided expectant parents with unbiased information about cord blood stem cells and cord blood banks. Review the list of diseases treated with stem cells. In addition, Cord Blood Registry provides an overview of stem cell therapy data and Viacord has…
Doctors studying regenerative powers of umbilical cord blood
At Children’s Memorial Hermann, pediatric trauma expert Dr. Charles Cox is studying cord blood to see if it can regenerate damaged brain tissues. “Cord blood is one piece of that puzzle,” Cox said. “There aren’t any good restorative therapies for brain injury, which is why we got into this years and years ago.” So far, cord…
Medical potential of IPS stem cells exaggerated says world authority
From The Times February 17, 2010 Mark Henderson, Science Editor The medical potential of reprogrammed stem cells that do not require the destruction of embryos has been exaggerated, according to the head of one of the world’s leading regenerative medicine companies. Thomas Okarma, the chief executive of Geron Corporation, told The Times that while so-called…
Winners of our December Competition
Congratulations to our December promotion winners – Claire Boocock and Dougall Cameron – who are expecting their first baby next month. They entered the ‘register by 31 December’ draw and won a CordBank collection kit worth $750. “We decided to register with CordBank due to Dougall’s history of Leukaemia. We wanted the security of knowing…
CordBank Collects From All Over The World…
We have received queries from prospective parents all over the world about collecting their new born’s cord blood from an international location and transporting it back to our laboratory in Auckland. Recently we collected the cord blood for baby Olivia from Malaysia. Proud parents Jon & Olivia wrote: “Dear Kate, Kylie and everyone at CordBank,…
Helping Our Haiti Earthquake family
The Haiti earthquake was a terrible tragedy that made headlines around the world, but for one New Zealand family, it was a particularly heart wrenching event. Emily Sanson-Réjouis from Nelson lost her husband Emmanuel and daughters Kofie-Jade and Zenzie in the earthquake. Fortunately daughter Alyahna survived, and Emily and Alyahna have since returned to Nelson…