Nick Pattenden from Planer recently returned from a South African visit where he inspected our 560 controlled rate freezer recently installed in CryoSave's Capetown branch.

CryoSave are a big player in the cord blood market starting in 2000 in the Netherlands. They now have facilities in the USA, Dubai, Benelux, Germany, France, India, Italy and more around the globe, claiming to store more than 200,000 samples from cord blood and umbilical cord tissue for newborns and adipose tissue for adults. In 2009, they offered a new validated mesenchymal stem cell storage service.

Cord blood banking has increased greatly in the last decade or so and Planer equipments are found in many of these bio banks. Results are beginning to be published from autologous and sibling donations with procedures undertaken relating to Cerebral Palsy, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Congenital Immunodeficiency, Haemorrhagia and Aplastic Anaemia amongst others. Controlled rate freezing is an integral part of cord blood storage where post thaw integrity of a comparatively small stored sample is vital. Similarly the alarming and monitoring of liquid nitrogen vessels and processes is key in this important process.

The photo shows the new Capetown branch lab with its CRF.