Cord Blood Research Group

The Cord Blood Group runs a Biobank, storing blood for transplants and research.

Our Cell Therapy Centre in Nottingham, opened in 2008, has a cord blood Biobank, where cellular and non-cellular fractions are stored and distributed as clinical grade products for therapy or research and developmental purposes.

The Centre is a Human Tissue Authority-licensed establishment with National Research Ethics Committee approval from Trent Ethics committee.

Within the Biobank, the Cord Blood Group is working on:

• Making the procedures used within the Biobank simpler to perform, more efficient, more reproducible and more economical.
• Assessing cord blood potency. After being processed and stored in the Biobank, we must ensure the cellular products have maintained their viability and functionality before dispatching them.
• Foeto-maternal immunoregulation as a natural model of tolerance: a proteomic approach.
• Improving the techniques of separating cell populations found in cord blood, freezing and banking, while ensuring that cell viability and functionality are not hindered. To achieve this objective, the Anthony Dodi PhD fellowship has been established as a collaboration between Anthony Nolan, the John Van Geest Cancer Research Centre and Nottingham Trent University.

Selected publications

• Fry L.J., Giner S.Q., Gomez S.G., Green M., Anderson S., Horder J., McArdle S., Rees R. and Madrigal J.A.: Avoiding room temperature storage and delayed cryopreservation provide better postthaw potency in hematopoietic progenitor cell grafts. Transfusion, epub, 2013.
• Duggleby R.C., Querol S., Davy R.C., Fry L.J., Gibson D.A., Horton R.B., Mahmood S.N., Gomez S.G. and Madrigal J.A.: Flow cytometry assessment of apoptotic CD34+ cells by annexin V labeling may improve prediction of cord blood potency for engraftment. Transfusion. 52: 549-59, 2012.
• Tong D.L., Boocock D.J., Coveney C., Saif J., Gomez S.G., Querol S., Rees R. and Ball G.R.: A simpler method of preprocessing MALDI-TOF MS data for differential biomarker analysis: Stem cell and melanoma cancer studies. Clin Proteomics, 8: 14, 2012.
• Querol S., Gomez S.G., Pagliuca A., Torrabadella M. and Madrigal J.A.: Quality rather than quantity: the cord blood bank dilemma. Bone Marrow Transplant, 45: 970-8, 2010.
• Querol S.: A case of mistaken identity. Blood, 114: 1459-60, 2009.

Looking for more information?

Contact our team at CTCResearch@anthonynolan.org