I have chosen to research the uses and benefits of umbilical cord blood. This special blood has to be retrieved at the time of birth and is specific to each individual. The collecting of the umbilical cord blood is something that has not been around for a long period of time but is becoming more known as time goes on.

Recently, scientists conducted a study on the benefits of umbilical cord blood. However, umbilical blood can be disadvantageous compared to traditional transplants due to the large amount of time it requires to prepare the transplant and the small number of stem cells that can be extracted from one unit of the blood. However, the advantage of a perfect transplant match to a patient often outweighs the disadvantage of recovering the stem cells and preparing the transplant tissue.

If more people would recognize the benefits of umbilical cord blood it would help the world tremendously. First, the stem cells can replace cells that have been damaged by disease. Second, the stem cells can “give rise to white blood cells and other components of the blood system” (Fred).  This would be very beneficial to a person with a blood disorder such as the unfortunately common disease Leukemia.

1.Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “First successful use of expanded umbilical-cord blood units to treat leukemia.” ScienceDaily. 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.