We’ll visit before you leave hospital to take a small blood sample from you (not your baby).

We’ll also take you through the full consent form if you didn’t sign it before the birth, and ask some routine medical history questions.

Within 30 hours, a courier will take your baby’s cord blood to our cord blood bank, the Anthony Nolan Cell Therapy Centre in Nottingham. We’ll test it to see if it has enough stem cells to use for a transplant and, if it does, we’ll freeze and store it until someone needs it.

If it doesn’t, we’ll either dispose of it using standard medical procedures or use it in vital research.

Cord blood contains haematopoietic stem cells which can differentiate into white and red blood cells. Cord tissue (the actual umbilical cord) contains mesenchymal stem cells. These stem cells differentiate into many different cell types such as osteoblasts (bone cells) and myocytes (muscle cells).

We use cord blood and tissue to isolate different cells. Research into each cell type will further our understanding into many different research areas. For example, we’re using cord blood to isolate haematopoietic stem cells, which can be analysed in different environments to further our understanding of cell therapies.

In the near future, we’ll be isolating mesenchymal stem cells from cord tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into many other cells, depending on their environment. So, from one lot of mesenchymal stem cells, we can produce many different cell types – this means research into many different areas, not only blood cancers and blood disorders!

We’ll test for any diseases or infections, so we can make sure your baby’s cord blood is safe to use for a transplant. This includes tests for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and HTLV. We may test for malaria, depending on your travel history. We’ll also do a DNA analysis to obtain your tissue type (HLA). This is how we’ll match your cord blood to someone in need of a lifesaving transplant.

If you test positive for anything, we’ll pass the information to your doctor who will advise you on any treatment.

As well as the above tests, we'll do virology and bacteriology tests. These tests will look for any dangerous viruses or bacteria, to make sure it’s safe for a transplant. We also check for genetic conditions (duplicating the neonatal screening tests) and do haematology tests to see how many stem cells there are in your baby’s cord blood.