UCSF, GE Healthcare program seeks to boost number of disease-fighting cord blood cells

A group of UCSF scientists will seek chemical compounds that can be added to blood-forming stem cells and progenitor cells in cord blood to increase their population and boost cord blood treatments for adult patients.
The $841,000, three-year program, funded by GE Healthcare Life Sciences’ cell technologies unit and the University of California’s Office of the President, initially will screen about 120,000 chemicals to find those that could expand the population of hematopoietic, or blood-forming, stem cells and progenitor cells.
The work is important because cord blood — a rich source of stem cells and progenitor cells — often doesn’t provide a large enough number of stem cells to treat adults with life-threatening diseases like lymphoma, leukemia or sickle cell anemia.