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Print Edition StoriesWaltham-based laboratory and research equipment company PerkinElmer Inc. is extending a research collaboration between it and the University of Texas to find ways to get the most stem cells from cord blood.
Cord blood is a source of stem cells used to treat more than 70 serious diseases, including cancer. Despite this, the quantity of stem cells available in a single umbilical cord blood unit is frequently insufficient to treat adult patients. However, using a cord blood expansion technology to increase the number of stem cells harvested from a single cord blood unit, doctors can potentially treat more patients.
This week, the PerkinElmer ViaCord Research Institute announced it will work with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, based in Houston, in sponsoring an upcoming clinical trial to explore a cord blood expansion technology dubbed co-culture. The trial will determine if the use of co-culture is safe and can deliver more rapid engraftment in adults needing cord blood transplants.
Depending on the results, ViaCord, which serves as PerkinElmer’s cord blood banking unit, and M.D. Anderson will decide if it’s possible to use Unrestricted Somatic Stem Cells (USSC) derived from cord blood in the co-culture of cord blood units for transplantation. These USSCs are proprietary to ViaCord, and are a type of stem cell found in umbilical cord blood. They are capable of differentiating into many cell types, such as endothelial cells, fat, bone, cartilage and neuronal cells.
PerkinElmer reported revenue of $1.8 billion in 2007 and has some 9,100 employees serving customers in 150 countries.
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