Source: Air Products SA
Air Products has been supplying the family cord blood and cord tissue stem cell bank with liquid nitrogen since 2011.
“It is of utmost importance that Cryo-Save never runs out of nitrogen at any point in time,” Gary Lombard, CryoEase Business Manager at Air Products, said.
“In order to ensure continuity of supply and meet the volumes required by Cryo-Save, Air Products has installed equipment to support and meet Cryo-Save’s requirements through a mode of supply, called CryoEase.”
“This ‘total gas management system’ enables Air Products to manage supply on a long-term basis without Cryo-Save being involved in the ordering process.”
“With this system, Air Products said it is able to meet Cryo-Save’s demands without interruptions in production as the product levels are monitored remotely.”
“The beauty of a supplier-customer relationship such as this is that Air Products is able to provide product as the volume consumption changes and adapt its offerings to meet the customer’s specific requirements.”
Stem cell freezing – a precise, scientific process
“Upon arrival of the cord blood samples at the laboratory, they are processed using an internationally validated automated closed system protocol, which allows for comprehensive quality control monitoring of the cord blood stem cell sample,” Dr. Lana du Plessis, Laboratory Director at Cryo-Save, explained.
“The concentrated umbilical cord blood stem cells are frozen using a cryopreservation medium and a method of controlled rate freezing, and it is subsequently placed in a cryopreservation tank for long-term storage.”
Source: Air Products SA
“A sample of the baby’s cord blood stem cells post processing will verify that the cells are viable and sufficient for storage.”
“Stem cells from the cord tissue are also processed and cryopreserved through the use of an approved processing and cryopreservation protocol.
“The stem cells from the cord blood and cord tissue are stored in special cryopreservation bags and containers, respectively, each sample is labelled with a unique code, that can be specifically traced back to each client, and stored in a cryo-preservation tank which contains gaseous nitrogen (approximately -180 degrees Celsius).”