LifeCell, India's first family cord blood bank, launched its marketing and collection centre in Surat, for umbilical cord stem cell banking.

With this launch, LifeCell has nine marketing and collection centers in India. The other centres are based in Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Kochi.

LifeCell has a state-of-the-art stem cell processing and banking facility near Chennai conforming to the standards of American Association of Blood Banks and the US FDA. The company plans to expand its network of marketing and collection centers to 24 cities within the next two years.

S. Abhaya Kumar, CEO, LifeCell said, "Cord blood which is discarded after child birth is a rich source of stem cells, which can be harvested and cryo preserved to be used for treating more than 75 serious ailments. LifeCell has been spreading the message of preserving this important biological material for family's own use."

Over the past fifteen years, cord blood stem cells have increasingly been used to successfully treat over 70 diseases and over 6000 people have been successfully treated with this revolutionary therapy, world over. Majority of these diseases have been related to blood and immune system disorders, and researchers have been recently encouraged by cord blood's potential in other diseases, including neurological disorders and cardiac conditions.