Cord Blood Stem Cell Research Center Opens in Arizona

A partnership between the Celebration Stem Cell Centre and Mercy Gilbert Medical Center — both in Gilbert, Arizona — has created a facility for cord blood stem cell research, processing, and storage. Gilbert is about 17 miles southeast of Phoenix.

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, with several other Phoenix-area hospitals, and hospitals in the Catholic Healthcare West system have agreed to collect donated cord blood from consenting patients for the processing, storage, and subsequent delivery of stem cells for clinical research, made available from the Celebration Stem Cell Centre. Cord blood stem cells are collected from the umbilical cords of newborn babies, which is usually discarded. Individuals who object to the collection of embryonic stem cells for research generally do not object to stem cells collected from cord blood.

Gilbert will be the site of the M.D. Anderson Banner Cancer Center, scheduled to open next year. Other scientific and research facilities in the region are Science Foundation Arizona, Arizona Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, and Translational Genomics Research Institute.