BIOBANKING AND CHARTERIZATION OF UMBILICAL CORD BLOOD VIA FLOW CYTOMETRY: QUANTIFICATION AND IMMUNOPHENOTYPIC IDENTIFICATION

Abstract

Biobanks have become incredibly important in the field of medical research. Because of their ability to store a large number of samples, they have dramatically increased the efficiency of the research process since everything is in one place. There is evidence to support the fact that stem cells from umbilical cord blood can serve as a viable option for cell therapy in the treatment of patients suffering from certain disorders. They offer many benefits over bone marrow stem cells, especially considering the fact that retrieving umbilical cord blood stem cells is not invasive like the extraction for bone marrow stem cells. Stem cells from umbilical cord blood have varying characteristics when taking into account factors such as gestational age, size of the placenta, age of the mother, and many other factors. By gestational age, immune cell counts and total nucleated cell counts were obtained. Though the use of flow cytometry, umbilical cord blood stem cells were further characterized by looking at certain markers such as CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD45.