Cesca Therapeutics, an autologous cell-based regenerative medicine company,  has secured a contract to provide its cell storage, processing and consumables platform to Upstate Medical University’s, Upstate Cord Blood Bank, one of two public blood cord banks in New York State and one of 27 total public cord blood banks in the United States.

Upstate Cord Blood Bank, the newly created $15 million health sciences centre in Syracuse, New York, will collect, process and store umbilical cord blood donated by families throughout Central and Northern New York.  Cord blood will be banked and used by those in need of life-saving medical treatments and for medical research.

“Being selected by the newly formed Upstate Cord Blood Bank to provide our state of the art cryogenic cell storage technology, the BioArchive System, and our automated cell processing platform the AutoXpress, is a key win for our cord blood business,” said Matthew Plavan, chief executive officer of Cesca Therapeutics.“What we find equally exciting, however, is the clinically progressive and scientifically rigorous mentality within the leadership at Upstate that we expect will foster medical innovation and possible collaboration opportunities, to push the boundaries of cord blood clinical applications more squarely into the regenerative medicine space,”continued Plavan.

Nicholas Greco, Ph.D, executive director and Tissue Bank Director for the Upstate Cord Blood Bank stated, “New York State is committed to innovative  science and medicine and with the creation of its public Upstate Cord Blood Bank, the residents of New York will have a facility where there is no cost to donate cord blood and banked cord blood will be available to anyone who needs it.” He added,“ Cesca technologies are designed for bioprocess efficiency with the goal of selecting and retaining the highest number of viable potent stem cells. By implementing the AutoXpress processing platform with XpressTrak software coupled with the robotic automation and controlled-rate freezing in the BioArchive System, we can also immediately implement lean manufacturing principles of cell-based processing at our under-development facility.