Phd in Immunology and a researcher, Josep Maria Pujal is the director of the laboratory Sevibe Cells, the closest thing to a bank of stem cells from umbilical cords. From there, they carry out a task of evangelization with regard to the benefits of the blood and tissues of this body is ephemeral. Benefits that the donor or their family members can enjoy at any time of life to cope with a growing number of disorders and ailments that still today continue to study in some of the most prestigious universities on the planet. Both the blood from the cord, as applied to diseases of the blood, as the tissue itself, which have their main applications in regenerative medicine, provide enormous possibilities that were discovered already 30 years ago but now they are multiplying their uses, such as the regeneration of the skin or the treatment of injuries in elite athletes.
Question.- What is the umbilical cord to make it worthwhile to keep it during your whole life?
Answer.- The umbilical cord of the baby is the equivalent to the adult bone marrow, which gives a huge potential to a material that almost always ends up being a waste. What we do is to take advantage of the blood that is residual, once it is scientifically proved that it is able to regenerate the bone marrow of a person in need in cases such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, etc
P. – The message then would be not thrown away any umbilical cord in the trash, right?
R. – Exact. What is important is that we take advantage of, that’s why we want to tell all the fathers and mothers, because most of the people don’t really know what is the umbilical cord or what it does or what it can do with it. Today information is missing, at least for us to clear the existing possibilities, either through public health or by a laboratory such as ours, which allows you to maintain control of that umbilical cord to the day that may be required to be in the bosom of the family.
Q. – What is the difference between the bone marrow and the umbilical cord?
R. – Basically the cells of the umbilical cord will double their population in four times less time than the bone marrow. So, if we focus, for example of leukemia, and due to the chemotherapy we need a bone marrow transplant, we will be much more efficient receiving blood from the umbilical cord, because it becomes a real factory functional.
P. – Between the applications that are in the experimental phase are also autism and cerebral palsy.
A. – that’s right, for the time being, noting that the injection of stem cells is becoming a patient’s improvement. They are not going to heal, but it does give improvements in behavior, attention, power, or autonomy of minors. Duke university is working very hard in this direction and are producing results that are really encouraging. But it is soon to detail the benefits of the patients who right now are being there subjected to treatments with stem cells from umbilical cord. In my particular case I put the stem cells from my newborn son to a mouse, and we were able to see how it produced a significant increase in the number of neurons. The prospects, of course, are good, but we should not throw false expectations when we talk about matters that are so delicate and that both stress generated between, for example, family members of children affected by cerebral palsy.
Q: How Many laces are take advantage of currently?
A. – Because 97% of them are thrown out. It is clear that there is the problem of misinformation and in addition in our case we find it difficult to access public health in places like the Balearic Islands, without going any further.
Q – What is ideal for you would be to keep all, of course.
R. – The ideal is to be informed and be the family that decides. Today most of the people do not know just nothing of the subject. But there are public and private banks to give an exit to those stem cells and encourage you to do so.
Q. – they say that the actor Tom Cruise ate the umbilical cord of his newborn daughter; perhaps an extravagant way to reap the benefits of that organ whose benefits have been applied scientifically for over three decades, but that has its roots sunk into the ancestors of civilization…
A. – Yes, the lab work a lot in the Canary islands, and there is true that, for example, the culture guanche has very inserted everything related to eat the placenta, to bury the umbilical cord… they Are habits of a religious or mythological that do not have any scientific basis, but it certainly is respectable. In any case, our work of dissemination of scientific information should not cease. To buy a tele we studied all the options, and when a mother gives birth, we must also consider all the possibilities. And one of them, of course, is to keep the cord blood for a future more or less distant in the us may become necessary.
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