Grad Students Develop Cord Blood Stem Cell Collection Device

Engineering team members from left, Christopher Chiang, Elias Bitar, James Waring, Sean Monagle and Matthew Means (Will Kirk/JHU)

A group of biomedical engineering graduate students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland have developed a device that improves the collection of stem cells from a newborn’s umbilical cord and placenta. The students have also filed a provisional patent application for the device and formed a company to further develop and commercialize the technology.

Stem cells from cord blood can help rebuild the immune systems of seriously ill patients, particularly those with blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Not all hospitals, however, have facilities to capture cord blood in delivery rooms; the device developers say there are only 180 hospitals affiliated with public cord blood banks, where new mothers can donate cord blood so that stem cells can be extracted.

The engineers — Christopher Chiang, Elias Bitar, James Waring, Sean Monagle, and Matthew Means (pictured right) — also say current methods, based on gravity, lose a larger percentage of the potential stem cells available in cord blood. They cite organizations tracking developments in cord blood that estimate the average collection yields only enough stem cells to treat a child, but not enough to treat an adult patient, based on the recommended cell dosage.

Their invention, called the CBx System, uses both mechanical forces and a chemical solution to help detach and flush more stem cells from the cord and placenta blood vessels. In early testing on discarded cords and placentas at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the team’s device collected up to 50 percent more stem cells than the traditional gravity system.

The five engineers have started a company called TheraCord to develop the CBx System and take it to market. The inventors have filed a provisional patent application as well. A provisional patent application lets inventors stake their claim without any formal oath or declaration, or an informational disclosure statement. It has a term of one year.

The developers have recently received their masters degrees in biomedical engineering. Team members Chiang and Means have have remained in Baltimore to manage and advance TheraCord over the coming year.

Read more: Cord Blood Stem Cell Research Center Opens in Arizona

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