A team of Canadian researchers have just been awarded a $1 million grant to research the use of banked umbilical cord blood to help premature babies with vulnerable immune systems.

There are more than 1,000 premature babies born in Canada each year. Researchers estimate that these babies are 100 times more likely to have an infection compared to a full-term baby, because of their vulnerable immune systems.

The B.C. Women’s Preemie Biobank was established last year to collect cord blood from premature babies in an effort to study the diseases and infections they often suffer from. It has already collected cord blood from 85 premature babies, who were less than 33 weeks gestation. Although a baby is considered premature if born before the 37 week mark, the researchers were interested in helping the most fragile pre-term babies.

Umbilical cord blood is found within the umbilical cords of babies. It can be safely extracted after the baby has been born with zero risk to mother or child. Cord blood is a valuable medical resource as it contains power stem cells which can be used to treat metabolic disorders, immune system disorders, blood disorders, and many forms of cancer.

Analysing cord blood from premature babies will help researchers learn how to make the immune and metabolism systems of the babies stronger. It will also help the researchers discover better defenses for specific microbial invasions.

There is only about 10 ml of cord blood in the placenta and umbilical of premature babies, so it will take researchers some time to build a useful medical resource. The recent grant improves the chances of the biobank being a success and developing treatments that will save the lives of many premature babies.

Source: Umbilical cord blood being collected from premature infants offers clues to fragility

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