Cord blood & tissue stem cell banking

Your umbilical cord blood and tissue are rich in stem cells. Umbilical cord stem cell banking involves collecting these valuable cells at the birth of your child, then processing and storing them for potential use in a range of medical treatments.

If you choose to store umbilical cord stem cells with a private banks, your cord blood and cord tissue sample will be preserved for decades to come and reserved only for family use.

What makes your umbilical cord special?

While your baby is in the womb, the umbilical cord transports vital oxygen, nutrients and antibodies to help them grow. It also contains stem cells that have amazing therapeutic benefits. The cord blood and cord tissue itself contain two important types of stem cell that can be used to treat immunity, blood and tissue-related illnesses throughout the body.

Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)

Can repair and replicate all types of blood cells; white, red and platelets. They are found within cord blood, peripheral blood and bone marrow and are used in over 85 standard therapies to treat blood and inherited disorders such as anaemia, bone marrow cancers and leukaemia.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)

Can repair and replicate into a variety of tissue cells within bone, cartilage, muscle and fat. They are found within umbilical cord tissue, bone marrow & teeth and are present in over 1,000 clinical trials into spinal cord injury, cardiovascular, autoimmune diseases and more.

Many parents have their baby’s umbilical cord discarded after delayed cord clamping, without realising the regenerative potential of its stem cells. Banking a small cord blood and/or tissue sample after birth offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to preserve your baby’s good health long into adulthood.

Benefits of umbilical cord stem cells

Regenerative medicine is an exciting and rapidly developing field. In the UK alone, 2,000 people require a stem cell or bone marrow transplant each year. Here are just some of the benefits to saving your baby’s umbilical cord stem cells.

Cord blood HSCs Cord tissue MSCs

Safe and non-invasive

100% DNA match to your child

25% chance of matching a sibling

Collect alongside delayed cord clamping

Used in over 85 standard medical treatments

Store for 25 years or more

Treat tissue damage

Your umbilical cord banking options

At Future Health Biobank, we offer parents the choice of storing stem cells from cord blood alone, or from both cord blood and cord tissue. You can view our flexible umbilical cord banking packages in more detail with the button below.

How does it work

Cord blood banking

Cord blood is collected from the umbilical cord by a professional phlebotomist, once delayed cord clamping has taken place. This is packaged for you and transported from the place of birth to the Future Health laboratory. Once arrived, the cord blood sample is processed and cryogenically frozen at our secure storage facilities.
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We send you your collection kit well before the birth date, which contains everything you need to collect the sample (make sure you have it with you on the big day!)

After birth, your consultant (or a phlebotomist provided by us) will extract the sample, and place it back into the collection kit

Our medical courier then collects the kit from your hospital or home, delivering it to our laboratory in Nottingham

Check your sample is healthy and viable for future use

Process your sample to concentrate the number of cord blood stem cells stored, and split into multiple portions for future use

Double check the health of the sample and count the number of cells extracted, to make sure it’s ready and viable should it ever be needed in the future

Your baby’s sample is then cryogenically frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored in our facilities for decades to come

Should you ever need to use your sample, we will release your sample and ship it anywhere in the world, free of charge

Cord tissue banking

A small section of umbilical cord tissue is collected by a professional phlebotomist, once delayed cord clamping has taken place. This is packaged for you and transported from the place of birth to the Future Health laboratory. Once arrived, the cord tissue sample is cut into multiple portions, processed and cryogenically frozen alongside your cord blood sample.
Discover more

We send you your collection kit well before the birth date, which contains everything you need to collect the sample (make sure you take it with you to the hospital on the big day!)

After birth, your consultant (or a phlebotomist provided by us) will take a tissue sample and place it back in the collection kit

Our medical courier then collects the kit from your hospital or home, delivering it to our laboratory in Nottingham

The sample is checked and confirmed as healthy and viable for future use

Process the sample by sectioning the tissue sample into multiple portions

Your baby’s sample is then cryogenically frozen in the vapour phase of liquid nitrogen, and stored in our facilities for decades to come