In placental mammals, the umbilical cord is a conduit between the developing embryo or fetus and the placenta. During prenatal development, the umbilical cord is physiologically and genetically part of the fetus and normally contains two arteries and one vein, buried within Wharton's jelly. The umbilical vein supplies the fetus with oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood from the placenta. Conversely, the fetal heart pumps low-oxygen, nutrient-depleted blood through the umbilical arteries back to the placenta.
The Seattle Aquarium is a public aquarium in Seattle, Washington, United States, located on Pier 59 on the Elliott Bay waterfront. It opened in 1977 and has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
AABB is an international, not-for-profit organization representing individuals and institutions involved in the field of transfusion medicine and biotherapies.
A cord blood bank is a facility which stores umbilical cord blood for future use. Both private and public cord blood banks have developed in response to the potential for cord blood in treating diseases of the blood and immune systems. Public cord blood banks accept donations to be used for anyone in need, and as such function like public blood banks. Traditionally, public cord blood banking has been more widely accepted by the medical community. Private cord blood banks store cord blood solely for potential use by the donor or donor's family. Private banks typically charge around $2,000 for the collection and around $200 a year for storage.
Seattle Children's, formerly Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, formerly Children's Orthopedic Hospital, is a children's hospital in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The hospital specializes in the care of infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 in several specialties.
Canadian Blood Services is a non-profit charitable organization that is independent from the Canadian government. The Canadian Blood Services was established as Canada's blood authority in all provinces and territories except for Quebec in 1998. The federal, provincial and territorial governments created the Canadian Blood Services through a memorandum of understanding. Canadian Blood Services is funded mainly through the provincial and territorial governments.
Cord blood is blood that remains in the placenta and in the attached umbilical cord after childbirth. Cord blood is collected because it contains stem cells, which can be used to treat hematopoietic and genetic disorders such as cancer. There is growing interest from cell therapeutics companies in developing genetically modified allogenic natural killer cells from umbilical cord blood as an alternative to CAR T cell therapies for rare diseases.
The Singapore Cord Blood Bank is Singapore's only public cord blood bank that collects, processes and stores donated umbilical cord blood for use in stem cell transplants. Its cord blood units may be searched for use by qualifying transplant centers around the world.
The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that operates the Be The Match Registry of volunteer hematopoietic cell donors and umbilical cord blood units in the United States.
Highline College is a public community college in Des Moines, Washington. Highline was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County, Washington. The main campus covers 80 acres (320,000 m2). As of 2015, there were approximately 17,000 students and 350,000 alumni of the college.
Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2022 population of 749,256 it is the most populous city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America, and the 18th most populous city in the United States. The Seattle metropolitan area's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities.
Northwest Kidney Centers is a regional, not-for-profit community-based provider of kidney dialysis, public health education, and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease. Established in Seattle in 1962, it was the world's first out-of-hospital dialysis provider. It offers dialysis throughout the greater Seattle area in 20 free-standing clinics, eight hospitals and its home dialysis program. It opened its first clinic in Everett in 2020, the organization's first in Snohomish county.
The Puget Sound region is a coastal area of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. state of Washington, including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountains. It is characterized by a complex array of saltwater bays, islands, and peninsulas carved out by prehistoric glaciers.
Carter BloodCare is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates in approximately 50 Texas counties. It is one of the largest blood centers in operation in the United States. The organization is accredited by AABB, and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT); licensed by the Food and Drug Administration; and holds membership in the South Central Association of Blood Banks (SCABB), America's Blood Centers (ABC), Blood Centers of America (BCA), and the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services (ACTS).
Eloise "Elo" R. Giblett was a pioneering genetic scientist and hematologist who discovered the first recognized immunodeficiency disease, adenosine deaminase deficiency. Giblett was a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and Executive Director of the Puget Sound Blood Center in Seattle. The author of over 200 research papers, she also wrote an esteemed textbook on genetic markers, Genetic Markers in Human Blood, published in 1969. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1980.
SightLife is an eye bank, a non-profit organization that obtains, medically evaluates and distributes corneas donated by individuals for use in corneal transplantation, research, and education. Since 2009 it has been the leading eye bank in the United States. SightLife provides volunteer services in India, Paraguay and Nepal. In August 2022, SightLife was acquired by Lions Eye Institute. The combined company will be the largest eye bank, tissue recovery and ocular research center in the world with nearly 300 employees.
LifeSouth Community Blood Centers is a not-for-profit blood bank incorporated in Florida. LifeSouth is headquartered in Gainesville, Florida, and serves over 125 hospitals in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. It has formerly been known as Civitan Regional Blood Centers.
Oklahoma Blood Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. It is the sixth largest blood collector in the United States and is the primary provider of blood products to over 160 hospitals and healthcare facilities. The organization is accredited by AABB, and the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT); licensed by the Food and Drug Administration; and holds membership in America's Blood Centers (ABC), Blood Centers of America (BCA), and the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services (ACTS).
The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps consists of 35 U.S.-based community blood centers that work together to provide an emergency reserve of blood products to respond to a mass shooting or mass casualty event. The program is administered by the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services (ACTS). To date, the BERC reserve has responded to supply blood products needed as a result of the Collierville Kroger shooting, the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, the Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021, and the Robb Elementary School Shooting.
