With a view to expand their operations further in India, Kolkata based Cord Life India, one of the most experienced network of stem cell banks in Asia Pacific, is all set to open its services in Mumbai soon. Cord Life is opening sales, marketing and operations forces in Mumbai for collection of samples. The company has not finalised the land yet but Meghnath Roy, managing director, Cordlife informed that it would be centred in Mumbai.

Roy said that in a couple of months they would finalise the deal and soon enough will start the work on infrastructure and workforce for the collection centre. The Mumbai centre would be catering to the entire country for marketing and sales purpose. The company also plans to have further subsequent centres in potential areas of the city as and when the need arises.

"The main purpose of this centre would be to educate our clients and create awareness about the benefits of cord blood banking. We want our clients to make an informed decision on cord blood banking," averred Roy. Cord blood is the preferred source of stem cells for transplantation worldwide. So far, more than 14,000 patients suffering from over 80 diseases have been treated successfully with cord blood stem cells.

The company has a R&D associate CyGenics' technology that has developed stem cell expansion and T-cell growth technology which has the ability to grow stem cells outside the human body (ex vivo). This opens the possibility to generate sufficient quantities of stem cells to treat leukaemia, thalassemia, anaemia and many other diseases. The successful production of T-cells in this way will enable the repair of damaged immune systems. CyGenics had developed the three-dimensional growth matrix used in its cell expansion technology from a NASA-derived product. The company holds a number of patents protecting the use of this matrix in cell growth applications.

CordLife India is a cord blood facility with a storage capacity of up to 150,000 cord blood units. It is also equipped with continuous power back-up as well as the most-up-to-date security and surveillance systems.

Located in Kolkata, CordLife is the only such facility serving the Eastern part of India. Roy informed, "We are licensed by the Drug Controller General of India to collect cord blood units from all Indian states and cities."

Cordlife is one of the most experienced network of stem cell banks in Asia Pacific with full processing and cryopreservation storage facilities in Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and India with marketing offices in Thailand and Macau.