CDI, Cord Blood Registry to Collaborate

by Brian Lee

Cellular Dynamics International announced last week that it has entered into an agreement with the Cord Blood Registry to reprogram its newborn stem cells into pluripotent stem cells.

According to a release, the Cord Blood Registry will provide to CDI multiple de-identified, research-donated and cryopreserved umbilical cord blood units as well as multiple de-identified units of mesenchymal stem cells isolated from previously cryopreserved cord tissue.

“We look forward to applying CDI’s proprietary episomal reprogramming technique to create iPSCs from cells stored in CBR’s bank,” CDI Chairman and CEO Bob Palay said in a statement. “Our goal is for the families who have entrusted CBR to store newborn stem cells from more than 500,000 children to know that they can have CDI establish a line of individualized iPSCs that matches their own genetic material.”

Founded in 1994, the Cord Blood Registry is the world’s largest newborn stem cell company.