A: Collecting your child’s newborn stem cells with Stembanc is safe and painless and is only done after the umbilical cord is clamped and cut and your newborn child is being cared for. We expedite a Stembanc collection kit to you that you need to take with you when your child is born. Then, remind your doctor to collect the stem cells.

Following your doctor’s stem cell collection procedure, you should keep the kit with you, near room temperature. Then, any time of day or night or weekend, simply call 1-87-STEMBANC (1.877.836.2262) and select option #3 to arrange for expediting your family’s precious newborn stem cells to Stembanc’s state-of-the-art, corporate headquarters laboratory facility.

A: Stembanc’s Newborn Stem Cell collection kits are heavily insulated and have been validated to keep your family’s stem cells near room temperature even during extreme outdoor weather.  Stembanc’s insulated, validated collection kits are needed to ensure maximum future benefit from the stem cells for your family.

A: First, the red cells are removed (this brings your family more potential uses of the precious stem cells for you, your spouse, siblings, half-siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles). Then, the majority of the plasma is removed and a cryoprotectant is gradually added in such a way as to prevent osmotic shock to the cells. Then, in a clean room environment, the stem cells are transferred into six separate vials made from a special sterile polymer designed for cryogenic storage.  (Saving the cells in six separate vials brings your family the potential of up to six different future lifesaving uses with the cells. This is possible due to the current state of expansion technology – or the proven ability to multiply the stem cell numbers 150 times over and more.  Further, expanded umbilical cord blood stem cells have now been used for lifesaving uses in people. (NOTE: Most of Stembanc’s competitors still do this the old fashioned way – using only a single blood bag – bringing your family only one future use)).  The cells are then placed into a validated, controlled rate cooling program that takes the cells from room temperature down to minus 80 Centigrade. This program has been optimized to provide maximum viability of your family’s precious newborn stem cells for your family post-cryopreservation. Then the cells are immediately transferred into the vapor phase of liquid nitrogen at -193 Centigrade, where they are good for your family’s use essentially forever.

A: While in both cases the cells are maintained at minus 193 Centigrade, Stembanc’s vapor phase storage provides a level of safety from viral cross contamination not available with liquid storage used by some others.  Stembanc’s vapor phase storage essentially provides individual quarantine for your family’s precious newborn stem cells, contrasted with the demonstrated risk of viruses migrating through liquid nitrogen from specimen to specimen.

A: Independent studies have shown no difference with typical cord blood matrices between Stembanc’s process and machine processing used by some other companies.

Machine processing is less costly than utilizing skilled technical personnel and that is the reason some companies have switched to the cheaper automated methods.  Unfortunately, machine processing relies on light transmission through the specimen for interface detection, and with atypical specimens recovery of precious stem cells may be zero with automated methods.  In contrast, Stembanc’s method of using skilled technical personnel can still accomplish good recovery of precious stem cells with the more difficult specimens.

A: Stembanc’s FDA registered, state-of-the-art laboratory facility and Corporate headquarters are located near the heart of the medical research region that includes the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic and the National Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (the Cleveland Ohio metropolitan area).