Healthcord uses premium closed-system processing that requires the use of specialized instruments such as RF heat sealers and sterile tubing welders. These instruments, along with use of integrated transfer/freezing bags, reduces the risk of sample infection, ensuring the safety of our banked products. Many cord blood banks are either unwilling or unable to adopt these technologies due to the high cost associated with them, which increases the risk of sample contamination.

Cooling is one of the most important aspects of cryopreservation, since uncontrolled freezing can result in cell death. Our state-of-the art advanced computer-controlled rate freezers drop the temperature in highly regulated increments, minimizing damage to the stem cells. In addition, computer controlled mixing of cryopreservants ensures proper ‘vitrification.’ Vitrification cryopreserves cells without the formation of ice crystals (“freezing”), which is associated with cell damage. All cord blood and tissue samples at Healthcord are preserved using this method.

Healthcord uses a single-platform enumeration system for quantitation of CD34+ stem cells, the most accurate and advanced method available to date. By using a single platform approach, we are able to acquire more standardized and accurate measures of the total number of stem cells in each sample, which is critical when samples are accessed in the future.