The therapy with stem cells in only in its infancy and many resources are put into a project that can save lives on the long run. It is important to collect the cells from the earliest stages in life. One of the places where we can find an abundance of stem cells is in the Cord Blood. This blood is actually in the umbilical cord of the baby.
The purpose of the stem cells is to restore the cells that help forming the blood. The first thing that needs to be done is to collect the cells. They are found in the cord and need to be collected right away at the birth. Once collected the stem cells have to be preserved in a safe environment. Once the process is over the cells can be used whenever needed. Collecting the cord blood is no risk for the mother or the baby. This is compared to the situation of collecting stem cells from the bone marrow, where a surgery is needed.
When we talk about the usage of such cells, the stem cells that come from cord blood take a longer time to engraft than the ones from the bone marrow. So this is a disadvantage when it comes to engulfing the cells. Another issue might be the fact that when stem cells are needed there may take a longer time to access them. If the cells are registered then they are available immediately and can be shipped in a shorter time that those from bone marrow.