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The 17^th Royan Congress on Reproductive Medicine and the 12^th Congress on Stem Cell & Technology was held in Tehran, Iran on 31^st August and 1^st and 2^nd September, 2016. Royan Stem Cell Technology also made its active presence during this 3-day congress, enhancing public awareness in regard with umbilical cord blood collecting and storing procedures and the miraculous benefits of the stem cells driven from cord blood samples, diseases can be treated with them and the byproducts in this realm of science.

Right now, one of the main concerns cord blood banks are facing with all around the world is public awareness and correcting the misunderstanding about umbilical cord blood collection and the use of stem cells which Royan Stem Cell Technology Company is making its best to enhance people awareness and information in this regard accordingly.

Through this year congress, Dr.Morteza Zarrabi, Managing Director of Royan Stem Cell Technology Company, made a speech about the history of cord blood banks since the beginning up to now and Dr.Abroun, the Chief Technical issues Manager of Royan Stem Cell Technology Company, was awarded for an article represented by him in the congress.

Our stand, this year was a bit different with the previous ones, enjoying a business part in which our manufacturing counterparts exposed their latest medical device and instruments. 

The umbilical cord blood stem cells of Ahmad Reza’s sister stored with Royan Stem Cell Technology Company helped him get rid of the malignant he was involved with, Thalassemia.

Fatima, Ahmad Reza’s little sister, was born two years ago in Kerman and her parents decided to store her umbilical cord blood samples with Royan Stem Cell Technology Company. At that time, they had a son suffering from Thalassemia and they were busy with his treatment procedures as well.

Trying various treatment techniques, the physicians finally decided to shift their treatment approach toward applying hematopoietic stem cells. Since his sister’s umbilical cord blood sample was stored at the time of her birth, the transplantation procedures were performed in April 2016 in Shariati hospital and under the supervision of Dr.Hamidieh.

Right now and after couple of months of the transplantation made, Ahmad Reza general health condition is improving and progressing and all blood indices reveal a normal and perfect condition.

Having released from hospital, Ahmad Reza  made a visit to Royan Stem Cell Technology Company and got more oriented of the whole story happened to him.

The authorities of Royan Stem Cell Technology, hereby, express their deep gratitude towards the treatment team of Shariati hospital and wish in future more umbilical cord blood samples can be stored and more lives can be saved as the consequences.

Isabella is three-and-a-half years old, but just weeks ago, she said her brother's name for the first time. Her older brother, Matthew, 15, was diagnosed as a child with the same condition that she has: Childhood Apraxia Syndrome (CAS), which is a motor speech disorder. CAS results in problems saying sounds, syllables, and words because the brain has difficulty in planning to move the body parts that form speech, such as the lips, jaw, and tongue.

Isabella's parents, Steven and Rosa, are small business owners in Queens, New York, running a technology education business for children. Before Isabelle was born, they were considering the possibility of banking stem cells, thinking it may benefit their son. "We discovered that the amount of (cord) blood collected is often only enough for a young child," said Steven Barney.

They ultimately decided to bank Isabella's cord blood with, a private cord blood, cord tissue, and placenta tissue banking company. "We researched the cord blood transfusions being done at Duke University for Apraxia, and they had found some success. We had some initial hesitation, but you never know what the future holds." 

The Barney family traveled to Duke University where the company affiliates a laboratory, had shipped Isabella's stem cells in a cryopreservation tank. These tanks are kept at below -190 degrees Celsius, so that the cells within remain frozen during their journey from the lab to the treatment center. 

source: Americord

The 1^st National Festival & International Congress of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine was held in Tehran from 19^th-21^st of May, 2016. Considering the vast fields of activities this realm of science, Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, are concerned with and the wide range of diseases they have been found to cure and the growing interest and trend toward these new branches of science and technology and hence this conference has drawn the attention of lots of scientists, researchers, university students and enterprises involved or in this field of science and technology.

Royan Stem Cell Technology participated in this Festival and Congress as well holding a stand through this 3-day event and is honored to have hosted some reputable scientists in its stand such as Professor Dennis Confer from the United States and Dr.Paolo Rebulla from Italy.

Royan Stem Cell Technology is among one of nominated science-based research companies concerned with Cord Blood Banking, Stem Cell Research and HLA Banking. Referring to its active presence in this scientific and business market, so far Royan Stem Cell Technology Company has played a key role in providing and releasing samples demanded by some hospital on the purpose of transplantation and achieving fruitful results in curing patients suffering chronic diseases is cause of proud and happiness for this company.

Royan Stem Cell Technology Company invites and embraces all scientific collaborations and suggestions nationwide and worldwide and is ready to share its knowledge and experiences throughout all national and international scientific bodies.

Throughout the centuries, there have been men and women whose thoughts, actions and behaviors were considered unique and have left deep impacts on their nations and the ones following them. Among them, Imam Ali is the one who carries all positive and influencing characteristics together. The one, who showed generosity to the poor and orphans, was courage at the time of danger and expressed sympathy with the oppressed.

That is why once a year, Muslims all around the world commemorate the birthday of this great man, celebrate and hold various meetings to share their joy and happiness with the others. On the occasion of such a cheerful event, the day is called “The Father’s Day” and family members show deep respect to the grandpas and fathers through representing them some gifts and holding family reunions.

We, at Royan Stem Cell Technology, also threw a party with our colleagues and shared some time of joy and happiness with our colleagues. During the ceremony, the managing director of the company made a lecture on the topic and there was even a contest of narrating the best paragraph about “Father” and the winners received their prizes at the end of the ceremony.

Following that, a cake was shared among all staff to end the ceremony with a sweet memory, wishing each other success and happiness.

               End of the year always means lots of backlogs and you find time too cramped to handle all of them in ease. However, at times you can spot some time to share your joy with your partners and colleagues, spreading out the feelings of delight and happiness. This came into existence when the End-of-Year Ceremony was held in Royan Stem Cell Technology Company in Kowsar Gathering Hall at the site of the company.

              The ceremony was started with reading verses of Holy Koran and continued with the speech made by Dr.Zarrabi, Managing Director of the company, who expressed his great honor to the endeavor made by the all staff throughout the year.  Pointing to the achievements made during the last year and hurdles cleared on the way toward such achievements, he confessed that such a progress and development can be put into effect in the light of mere comprehensive team work and collaboration. He also remarked the targets set ahead the company for the coming year. Following his speech, he wished the best for all staff to enjoy a safe and sound year ahead.

           During this ceremony, Mr.Shirvani, an expert in theology, also was invited who represented a speech on the attitudes religions have got toward Spring and the relationship between this season and human nature. Farther, he remarked the secrets of the creation and the story falls beyond the creation of the human being and nature reviving in Spring. At the end of the ceremony, gift packages were distributed among the staff which made the happiness of the whole participants much more than before.

          Though, it was the last working day in Royan Stem Cell Technology Company, but some staff have to stay at work on different working shifts due to the nature of their position.

          Taking this opportunity, we, at Royan Stem Cell Technology Company, would hereby like to express out the best wishes for all our counterparts, clients and our compatriots all around the world.

CONGRATULATIONS THE NEW YEAR,

WISHING YOU ALL AN EVER-LASTING & NEVER-ENDING GREEN AND JOYFUL LIFE.

Top 5 Influences in the Global Cord Blood Banking Market

This post considers five of the most influential people operating within the cord blood banking marketplace. These individuals are all renowned industry experts, innovative thought leaders, and of course, highly sought after speakers, advisers, and board members. Their individual opinions on cord blood banking topics can substantially alter public perception.

As such, it is critical to be aware and educated about the role that these individuals have played – and continue to play – within the cord blood banking marketplace.

1^st Place:  Dr. Elaine Gluckman

Esteemed French doctor, Elaine Gluckman, has been performing stem cell transplantations for over 30 years. She is a founding member of the European Group of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Head of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation at the Hospital Saint-Louis in Paris. Dr. Elaine Gluckman performed the first successful umbilical cord transplant on a human being in 1988.

For this high achievement she has been named the “Mother of Cord Blood Transplant.” Among her many awards in the field,  she has been decorated “Legion d’honneur and the Ordre du mérité in France” and was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Basel in 2005.

Currently, she is focused on researching congenital bone marrow and failure transplantation of umbilical cord blood.

2^nd Place:  Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg

Dr. Kurtzberg is best known for performing the first unrelated cord blood transplant in the world in 1993. At that time, she performed the first two successful unrelated donor cord blood transplants, one of which was used to treat a patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In 1996, Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, along with Drs. Rubinstein and Stevens, published results of unrelated cord blood transplantation from their first 25 patients in the New England Journal of Medicine.

She has built her career around developing and refining umbilical cord blood transplantation techniques. She completed her training at the New York Medical College and worked with Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse in New York and Duke University Medical Center.

As part of her current activities, Dr. Kurtzberg optimizes both clinical and laboratory-based translational research revolving around various aspects of normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Her love and passion for the field of cord blood transplant research has led her to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium.

3^rd Place:  Dr. Pablo Rubinstein

Dr. Pablo Rubinstein is the co-founder and director of the National Cord Blood Program in the New York Blood Center, and his greatest achievement has been advancing knowledge and techniques within the field of cord blood banking in the U.S. and worldwide. He began his medical training in Universidad de Chile and afterwards worked both in Chile and the U.S.. To date, he has published more than two hundred research papers on the topics of immunogenetics, transplantation, cord blood banking, and similar industry topics. He is also an adjunct clinical professor at Columbia University.

Following the first sibling-donor cord blood transplant in 1988 by Dr. Elaine Gluckman (see #1), the National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded a grant to Rubinstein to develop the world’s first cord blood program at the New York Blood Center. The purpose of this public cord blood system was to create an inventory of umbilical cord blood stem cell units that could be used for medical purposes as unrelated, transplant matches.

His hard work paid off shortly thereafter, when in 1993, Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg (see #2) from Duke University successfully used cord blood stored by the New Cord Blood Center to perform a series of pioneering transplant surgeries.

4^th Place:  Dr. Hal Broxmeyer

In 1983, Dr. Hal Broxmeyer and his team were the first to suggest that umbilical cord blood could serve as an alternative source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplant, instead of bone marrow. He is the founder of CORD:USE Family Cord Blood Bank.

He was also responsible for storing the cord blood that was collected during the birth of Matthew Farrow’s sister; Matthew Farrow was a five-year old child who received the first successful cord blood transplant in the world performed by Dr. Elaine Gluckman in the St. Louis Hospital, of Paris, France. (Note: Matthew’s U.S. physician was Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg.)

In 1989, Dr. Broxmeyer published a landmark paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrating that cord blood has similar attributes to bone marrow, including that it contains an enriched source of stem and progenitor cells. As such, he again proposed cord blood as a possible alternative to bone marrow as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for use in transplantation.

Dr. Broxmeyer has been a critical figure during the birth and gradual maturation of the cord blood banking marketplace. He has written or co-authored more than 600 papers pertaining to the science and mechanisms of cord blood stem cells. In addition, he was the 2010 President for the American Society of Hematology (ASH), which is the world’s largest professional society that addresses the causes of and remedies for blood disorders.

5^th Place:  Geoffrey Crouse

Mr. Crouse is the CEO of Cord Blood Registry (CBR), the largest cord blood bank in the United States and worldwide. CBR currently has more than a half million cord blood and cord tissue units stored in its Tucson, AZ, laboratory. Mr. Crouse was also selected as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Cord Blood Association, formed in 2014 within the United States. More recently, he was elected Vice President of this organization.

With a B.A. from Boston College and a M.B.A. and M.P.H. from the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Crouse joined the Cord Blood Registry as its CEO in 2012. He had previously worked at other major biomedical behemoths, to include Immucor, Millipore Corporation, Roche, and more.

He is passionate about his work within the field of cord blood banking and actively promotes cord blood banking.

While it initially appeared as though Leo would be spared invasive treatments, that unfortunately changed when he was further diagnosed with trilateral retinoblastoma at 6 months of age. This meant that he now had to battle a malignant brain tumor in addition to the eye cancer, and that extensive chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant would be needed.

It was at this time that we could breathe a sigh of relief that we had at least had the foresight to bank his umbilical cord blood at his birth. We had initially hesitated to do so, as we had no reason to expect that anything like this would be in our future; we have no family history of retinoblastoma. We had actually decided not to bank the cord blood of Leo’s sister when she was born just two years earlier. At that time we thought the likelihood that we would ever end up needing it was so slim that it wasn’t a sound investment. Frankly we also weren’t sure about the reliability of the whole process. So just what had changed our minds about cord blood banking before Leo’s birth?

A friend at work banked his baby’s cord blood and after discussing how easy the process was, we decided we should just do it and not put ourselves in a position we may regret further down the line. Needless to say we felt very relieved that we hadn’t just thrown away those precious drops of blood and that our son would now have a better chance to beat the odds because of it.

Leo went on to have the stem cell transplant to replace his bone marrow the week after his first birthday. Almost two years have passed since that time and though it’s premature to say that this battle is completely behind us, we are thrilled to report that Leo is doing phenomenally well. He is a happy active little boy who, much like a typical 3 year old, loves everything related to boats, cars and trucks!

What words of wisdom do we have to share with other parents and parents-to-be following this experience? If you should ever have the great misfortune of finding yourself in a similar situation anything you can do to improve your child’s odds is priceless.

source : Inspection life Bank - Canada

We spoke to our obstetrician about the possibility of collecting the stem cells and he was reluctant, saying that we did not have anything in our background that would warrant such a procedure. We had no expectation of ever using them, but we felt that it was a good thing to do anyway. In spite of the doctor’s objections, we implored him to perform the extraction. Nobody knows what the future holds and our view was that the worst-case scenario was that these stem cells would expire in about 10 years.

On December 22, 2006 our lives changed in a way that cannot possibly be expected. After displaying the classic symptoms, Barrett was diagnosed with incurable, insulin dependent, type 1 diabetes, commonly referred to as juvenile diabetes. There is no history of diabetes or any significant health issues in either of our family backgrounds. It was a shock to my wife and I. They took us into a room and had us practice injecting a sponge rubber ball and told how much insulin to use and told us to call them in month or so to see how Barrett was progressing. We of course had just learned short moments ago that our lives were being completely transformed. We mentioned at the time that we had collected Barrett’s umbilical cord stem cells at birth and inquired whether there was any research being done in this area. We were flatly told that no studies were available and that our son’s disease was something we all had to accept and live with.

That Christmas, instead of wrapping Christmas presents and mourning the change in our lives, my wife and I were diligently trying to find out as much as we could about the disease through on line resources. Christine came across a research study being used at the University of Florida where they were studying the impact of re-infused stem cells on children with type 1 diabetes. He had been recently diagnosed, he was still producing insulin on his own to a degree, and the only question was the quality of the cord blood that had been collected. After all, it had been close to 9 ½ years that this blood had been stored. We are proud to say that the collected stem cells produced extraordinary results.

Fast forward to today. Barrett is still in the “honeymoon stage” of his disease, which means his pancreas is still alive and producing insulin. That is completely unheard of considering Barrett has had the disease for over 3 years now. The original doctors told us that the honeymoon period would last a few weeks to a few months.

There are a couple of unique things about Barrett’s story. First, he is by far the oldest participant in the study. Unlike our experience in Canada, stem cell collection in the United States is subject to all kinds of legislation and political agendas and it can be challenging to find facilities willing to extract the blood in the first place. Our identical twin daughters were born in Santa Monica California (July 1999), and we had unexpected difficulty in getting the delivery room to consider drawing the cord blood. We had to line up the storage facility and make a lot of the arrangements to have the cord blood drawn. I recall being in the delivery room and observing the doctor do the extraction. It really was a simple process and I was surprised at how much resistance we had to this process.

Today, Barrett is a healthy active child in every capacity. He is still producing insulin on his own to this day and his progress has been extraordinary.

This stem cell infusion is not at all the cure for his condition, however because he is producing insulin on his own, the possibility exists that he can be helped as research on this disease continues. We know in our hearts that our decision many years ago to extract and store his cord stem cells has played an integral part in his success.

Source: Inspection Life Bank - Canada

Even though you are a celebrity in the cord blood community, the day to day reality is that you are a regular guy trying to make ends meet and raise a family. Do you have any advice for transplant survivors trying to find a "new normal"?

I've been very blessed that I haven't had long-term side effects from my cord blood transplant. Since I was so young when I had my transplant, living with that is all I ever knew. I was just a kid that wanted to play and get dirty and be like the other kids. After my transplant it took me a while to learn that it was OK to get dirty. So my advice would have to be that it is going to take time to adjust and to not dwell on the bad parts of the process. It is easy to ask "Oh, why me?" and I am sad that many of my friends have passed away. It took me a much longer time to realize that I had to focus on the future and really start living. G-d kept me here for a reason.

Muscat: Cooperation on the use of stem cells in medical treatment and storage of cord blood, which is a rich source of these life-saving cells, is being discussed by Oman and a leading research and treatment centre in Asia.

Preliminary discussions are being held on establishing a centre in Oman and offering training to Omani specialists as well, Seyed Vahid Askari from the international affairs department of Royan Stem Cell Technology Co., told Times of Oman.

He was speaking during the 5th edition of Oman Health Exhibition and Conference, which was recently held at the Oman International Exhibition Centre in Muscat.

Royan Institute is based in Iran and was established in 1991 as a research institute for reproductive biomedicine and infertility treatment.

Askari said that the planned cooperation between Royan and Oman would focus on infertility treatment, use of stem cells in the treatment of various medical conditions as well as storage of umbilical cord blood, which is a valuable source of stem cells.

Stem cells

Stem cells are special blood cells, which are the body’s building blocks for blood, organs, tissue and the immune system and are genetically unique to each baby.

When a baby’s cord blood is stored, a unique biological resource is preserved that is like a self-repair kit for the child and other possible family members.

Royan Stem Cell Technology Co. was founded in 2005 to take, proceed and fulfil the required steps in cord blood banking. The centre has covered the preliminary steps including storing more than 55,000 samples in its public and private banks and opening branches in more than 23 cities nationwide.

Askari explained that cord blood collection is easy and does not pose any medical risk to the mother or the newborn baby.

If stored, cord blood stem cells will be readily available whenever needed, he added.

Cord blood transplants

Doctors have increasingly turned to cord blood stem cells as an alternative to bone marrow transplants. Cord blood stem cells are used in disease treatment to fight over 80 diseases including many forms of malignancies such as leukaemia, autoimmune diseases, lupus, and inheritable diseases such as sickle cell anaemia.

Advantages

One of the advantages of cord blood transplants is that they do not require a perfect match and can be performed in cases that the donor and the recipient are partially matched.

In addition, the immune cells in cord blood seem to be less likely than those in bone marrow from unrelated donors to attack the patient’s own tissues. Cord blood transplants are also associated with lower risk of viral infections.

Omani patients

Askari said that Royan centre is ‘unique’ in the Middle East and even Asia in terms of research and treatment, especially infertility treatment.

“We receive patients from Oman, especially for eye disorder treatment and infertility treatment through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). Now we are trying to promote treatment of certain skin disorders with stem cells,” the official noted.

International specialists and researches who participate at Royan’s conferences have been impressed by the centre’s achievements, he said, adding, “We feel it is important to transfer this know-how to our neighbouring countries and cooperate with them.”

Seminars

Askari said that the institute is keen to share its expertise with universities and health and research centres in Oman and is ready to hold short and long-term seminars in the Sultanate.

Iran has made great progress in medical fields over the past years despite the sanctions, he stated, expressing hope that this potential would be utilised further after the implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Askari also noted that the health exhibition in Muscat provided a great networking opportunity for representatives of medical centres from different countries.

techniques and methods in our daily living style. Hence, as the rule to survive, we should keep ourselves updated with such new phenomena and let the old ones left behind.

The more staff is trained with new skills, scientific achievements and technology changes, the more compatible and successful they will be in meeting the organization and society needs. Staff training is considered as one of the most critical and crucial factors in any organization which will lead to the promotion of the whole stand of the organization.

 

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an educational intervention on maternity nurses’ knowledge and attitude regarding cord blood collection and stem cells. Maternity nurses who received an educational intervention would have improved knowledge and positive attitude toward cord blood collection and stem cells than before intervention.

 

Two main tools were used for data collection:

 

I- Structured interviewing questionnaire:

It was designed by the researchers after reviewing related literature.[15, 19] It was written in an Arabic language in the form of close and open-ended questions. It encompassed

two major parts:

 

First part included personal and socio demographic data such as (age, qualifications, and years of experience in delivery room and attendance of training courses about cord

blood collection and stem cells.

 

Second part included nurses’ knowledge about cord blood collection and stem cells. It consisted of (4) sections;

 

_ Section (1) general knowledge regarding umbilical cord, it consisted of (5) items (anatomy, physiology, functions, abnormalities, and proper time of clamping umbilical cord).

 

_ Section (2) knowledge pertaining cord blood collection, it consisted of (9) items (definition, benefits, indications, contraindications, appropriate time of collecting

cord blood, places for cord blood storage, length of time for cord blood storage, barriers of collecting of cord blood, and responsible persons for collecting cord blood).

 

_ Section (3) knowledge concerning technique of cord blood collection, it consisted of (5) items (methods, preparation, components of collection set, precautions of infection control, and technique of cord blood collection).

 

_ Section (4) knowledge pertaining stem cells, it consisted of (5) items (definition, sites, importance of stem cell from umbilical cord blood, uses, and ethical

considerations of obtaining stem cells from umbilical cord).

 

II- Nurses attitude towards cord blood collection and stem cells:

 

This tool was developed by the researchers after reviewing related literatures,[20, 21] to assess nurses attitude pertaining cord blood collection and stem cells and consisted of (16) items such as (Collecting umbilical cord blood immediately after delivery is necessary, cord blood available for life, umbilical cord blood should only be used for baby and his own family . . . etc.).

 

 Conclusion

 

In the light of the study findings, it can be concluded that there was a statistically significant improvement in nurses’ knowledge mean scores , immediately, and three months after intervention, as well as there was a statistically significant difference in nurses’ attitude scores before, immediately, and three months after intervention. The implementation of an educational intervention was effective and significantly improved nurses’ knowledge and attitude towards cord blood collection and stem cells. Furthermore, the above mentioned findings proved and supported the research hypothesis.

 

To get more on details, you can read the whole text as in the pdf file attached to this news.