What is stem cell storage

Stem cell storage is preserving your baby’s umbilical cord blood by freezing the cells in liquid nitrogen. This allows you to preserve the stem cells for many years, ready for use at any time in the future should you need them.

Specifically, the stem cells from the cord blood are processed and stored in one of two ways; whole blood storage or extracted stem cells storage.

Whole blood storage keeps the sample pretty much as it is collected, so as not to interfere with the blood content or risk damage to sample viability. VSELs (Very Small Embryonic Like stem cells), MSCs (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) alongside the HSCs (Hematopoietic Stem Cells) are only found in whole blood and are absolutely key to future treatments – you can learn more about these stem cell types here.

Extracting the stem cells by centrifuge is the cheaper commercial option and reduces not only the storage costs by over 80% but reduces the samples full future potential. Research in the US showed that the only real benefit in extracting the stem cells is commercial. Almost all commercial stem cell banks in the world operate this way to save costs and maximise samples per tank.

Storing the stem cells involves preserving the whole cord blood in a number of vials and bags. Cryogenic tanks are used to store long term, uniquely in dual locations for added peace of mind. The samples themselves are stored at -185 °C and are available anywhere in the world within 24 hours.