June 21, 2010

Frontiers of Cord Blood Science

Cord blood is a significant source of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells for the treatment of blood and genetic disorders. Cord blood is also an alternative to embryos as a source of tissue for regenerative medicine. Cells from cord blood have been shown to transdifferentiate into nonhematopoietic cells, including those of the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, bone, and cartilage, in tissue culture and in animal systems. Recently it has been demonstrated that both cardiac and glial cell differ