On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Royan Stem Cell Technology Co; we would like to share our proud and happiness on achievements and progresses we have made so far with our esteemed colleagues and counterparts and all scientific communities and associations all over the world.
Bringing the importance of umbilical cord blood and growing global findings of the research made on cord blood stem cells into consideration, along with a growing trend in public understanding about stem cells and diseases could be cured by these cells, Royan Stem Cell Technology was founded in 2005 as a joint venture of Royan Institute and LIDCO Company (as the investor) to collect, process and store the umbilical cord blood stem cells. This is both a Private and Public bank (Hybrid Bank) and since the beginning, nearly 50,000 samples have been stored and about 7 stored samples have gone for transplantation purposes up to now. The data represented through this brief, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Royan Stem Cell Technology Company, refers mainly to the Private Bank.
Right now, we have got 23 offices nationwide and have opened one in Iraq, Erbil which all are actively involved in this field. Table 1 shows the growing trend of our offices through the previous years.
Growing number of offices in previous years.
|
Year
|
Number
|
|
2005
|
2
|
|
2006
|
2
|
|
2007
|
6
|
|
2008
|
12
|
|
2009
|
14
|
|
2010
|
17
|
|
2011
|
18
|
|
2012
|
19
|
|
2013
|
23
|
It should be stated here that the more public understanding about cord blood banking, the more number of expected parents referring to our bank to get their coming infants cord blood stored. This increasing rate can be observed in the table represented below.
Increasing rate in number of contracts made through the last years
Though, we, in Royan Cord Blood Bank and Stem Cell Technology Company, observe all rules and standards strictly, there has been a fast growing number in the samples stored.
Number of samples frozen through the last years.
We have successfully achieved a variety of international standards such as: ISO 9001:2088 in collecting and processing cord blood stem cells, ISO 1800 1: 2007 and ISO 1400 1: 2004 in ECO friendly and environment preserving, and ISO 100002 in observing customer’s rights. We are constantly observed and investigated by URS Company, a British based company considering the compatibility with global standards. At present, we are making our effort to achieve some more standards such as: Fact-Netcord, AABB and Ihram Ministry of Health.
Right now, this company has hired more than 109 staff directly and created more than 400 job opportunities indirectly all around Iran.
Right now, we perform all quality control tests including HLA Typing, Flow cytometery, Serology, Microbiology and Cloning Assay. The process and dividing the stem cells are done both manually and automatically ( Sepax Method). The main Serology tests being performed on the cord blood samples are as follows:
ü HBS.Ag
ü Anti-HBS
ü Anti-HBC
ü CMV (IgG,IgM)
ü HCV.Ab
ü HIV PCR
ü HCV PCR
ü HTLV
ü RPR
Our HLA bank has stored the genetic centers of more than 30,000 shown in the table below.
Number of samples stored in HLS Bank through the last years
|
Year
|
Number of samples stored in HLA Bank
|
|
2013
|
27500
|
|
2012
|
20000
|
|
2011
|
15000
|
|
2010
|
11500
|
|
2009
|
7500
|
The following table represents the number of demands made on HLA demanding and the consequent results.
|
Year
|
Number of demands to search
|
Number of cases to which sample is found
|
Number of cases to which a match is found
|
|
2011
|
65
|
63
|
15
|
|
2012
|
127
|
127
|
27
|
|
2013
|
83
|
79
|
16
|
Royan Cord Blood and Stem Cell Technology Company enjoys a Research and Development Department ( R&D) through which we make a research and clinical study on a wide variety of diseases could be cured with stem cells. No wonder, as we go ahead with new findings and potentials regarding cord blood stem cells, R&D department finds itself in arena of making crucial efforts on the path toward organizational development and enrichment.
In the meantime, thanks to our scientific staff and researchers, we have taken fruitful measures in research activities including:
• Releasing and publicizing articles and magazines
• Taking part in various national, regional and international congresses, conferences and exhibitions
• Representing two articles in the 28th Immunogenic Congress held in Stockholm
• Representing one article about evaluation of blood factors of the cord blood samples stored in cord blood bank and its relationship with CD34 in the 11th Symposium on cord blood bank held in San Francisco
• Registering a patent on isolating the stem cells of mesenchyme in Wharton Jelly, taking advantage of PBS which is so fast and economic
And some more to just name a few. The data represented here are so concise and in brief, not to taking a long time or get you bored. We invite our counterparts from various related scientific communities and centers from far beyond borders to share their experiences, knowledge and experiences with us so that we all can play our roles much more constructive than before and pay the debt we owe to the human communities toward enjoying a healthy life.