From the umbilical cord to the cryo-preserver - Part 1

In this multi-part series we will capture the journey of your baby’s precious stem cells from the time it reaches our lab, till it gets into the cyro-cylinder.

Sample receipt – Arrival & welcome

Ramesh who is the Assistant Manager for Cryo-Preservation at LifeCell talks to us about the grand welcome given to the stem cell units:

"At LifeCell, about 12 people are part of the sample receipt and cryo-preservation team. We receive about 135 – 150 samples per day… 50 -60 of them are received in the morning and the rest in the evening. Representatives from Sequel Logistics, with whom we have an exclusive tie-up for sample transportation, bring in the collection kits to the lab from the airport.

After the initial screening at the security gate, the kits are first unwrapped. The thermocol box within the cardboard box is then sent to the sample receipt area. Here we undertake a number of tasks. First we make note of the temperature and the weight of the sample upon receipt. The blood bags and test tubes are then cleaned.

Every kit box has a kit box number which is used for tracking purpose. Within the kit box is a purple card that holds vital information about the sample. We input the unique CRM number generated for every person enrolling and register the data to the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). Most of the data are generated automatically and this reduces the need for manual entries. The data includes:

• Delivery date & time
• Nature of delivery
• Product name: Cord blood/ cord tissue/menstrual blood
• Mother’s name
• Physician’s email id
• Hospital name
• Name of the collection doctor/paramedic
• Mode of preservation: Single/Dual
• Test tube #
• Blood bag weight
• Blood bag temperature
• Registration date