April 2025

Dear members of the CBA community,

I’m pleased and excited to announce important changes in the Cord Blood Connect (CBC) 2025 annual meeting. This year the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) will be hosting the annual Cord Blood Connect meeting in conjunction with the AABB annual meeting. The new dates are October 25-28, 2025 and the new location is San Diego, CA (at the convention center). This means the CBC meeting in Miami is cancelled and will be replaced by the meeting in San Diego.

This was a difficult decision for the CBA Board as the CBC meeting is very popular and valued by the attendees, however, it’s financially challenging to support. While CBA leadership was struggling to decide what to do, we were presented with a solution from the AABB who invited CBA to join their annual meeting in San Diego. This is a win-win solution for both organizations.

By partnering with AABB, the CBC meeting program, attendees, and sponsors will have great exposure to broader membership and stakeholders that sit within AABB. CBC and AABB annual meeting registration will be a single registration, such that CBC attendees will also have exposure to the AABB annual meeting content and exhibitors. We look forward to working with AABB on our mission of accelerating the use of cord blood and birthing tissues to benefit patients and advance medicine.

More details to follow in the coming weeks, including the abstract submission process, meeting registration, lodging, and meeting exhibits and sponsorship. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or need more information about this exciting change.

Sincerely,

Joanne Kurtzberg, MD

President, Cord Blood Association

2025 Cord Blood Connect Highlights

Discover what’s ahead in the Scientific and Technical Tracks at Cord Blood Connect 2025!

Scientific Track

• Session 1: Cord Blood Transplantation: Clinical Outcomes and New Strategies
• Session 2: Cord Blood and its Unique Biological Aspects
• Session 3: Cord Blood for Regenerative Medicine
• Session 4: Lightning Talks – The Future of Cord Blood: Bold Visions and Innovations

Technical Track

• Session 1: Role of MSCs in the Development of Regenerative Cell Therapies
• Session 2: Communication and Awareness Challenge
• Session 3: Key Scaling and Growth Challenges
• Session 4: Global Perspective & Regulatory Harmonization

2025 Tandem Meeting Highlights

The 2025 Tandem Meetings of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) and Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) in Honolulu, Hawaii (February 12-15, 2025) included a spotlight session outlining new frontiers cord-blood therapies. Experts discussed advancements in stem cell expansion, mesenchymal stromal cell applications, transplantation optimization, and novel immunotherapy approaches.

Read more about how leading researchers, including Dr. Colleen Delaney, Dr. Partow Kebriaei, Dr. Takanori Teshima, Dr. Guy Sauvageau, and Dr. Rafet Basar, are shaping the future of cord-blood derived treatments for cancer, graft-versus-host disease, and regenerative medicine.

CBA Regulatory Update: FDA Guidelines

On January 31, 2025, the FDA announced they will be revising final guidance previously released on January 7th to allow for further review and consideration of comments received for “Recommendations To Reduce the Risk of Transmission of Disease Agents Associated with Sepsis by Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue Based Products (HCT/Ps)” and “Recommendations To Reduce the Risk of Transmission of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (Mtb) by Human Cells, Tissues, and Cellular and Tissue-Based Products (HCT/Ps).” There is now a recommend implementation date of May 4, 2025. 

The guidance focuses on screening donors for tuberculosis, and screening for risk factors using medical records, donor history, clinical evidence and testing. The FDA has opened an additional comment period to gather more feedback on the guidance. The guidance can be accessed below and comments can be submitted electronically.

Exclusive Invitation: BCA's Supply Chain Networking Conference

To celebrate its new partnership with the Cord Blood Association, Blood Centers of America would like to invite CBA members from within the U.S. to their annual Supply Chain Networking Conference in Boston, May 19 – 21, 2025.

Always a highlight event of the year, BCA welcomes purchasing and leadership personnel from their blood center, tissue bank, and organ procurement members. Cord Blood Association members should secure their spot now to create networking connections, share successes, discover cost savings opportunities, hear the latest industry updates, and meet with top product & service suppliers from every category.

Learn more about this event and register to attend or contact Whit Harvey at BCA.

Profile of a Pioneer: Eliane Gluckman

by Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, Duke University Medical Center

CBA President

Eliane Gluckman pioneered the first umbilical cord blood transplant in 1988, revolutionizing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Her groundbreaking work led to the creation of Eurocord, a registry tracking transplant outcomes, and later Monacord, expanding research to improve sickle cell treatment in Africa. Over four decades, her contributions have shaped the field and advanced the use of cord blood therapies worldwide.

A Lifesaving Cord Blood Transplant Patient Story: Zion's Journey with Krabbe Disease

When newborn screening detected Infantile Krabbe Disease in baby Zion, his only hope for survival was an urgent umbilical cord blood transplant. At just 25 days old, Zion underwent a lifesaving procedure, followed by a groundbreaking gene therapy trial at Duke University. His remarkable journey highlights the power of early diagnosis, medical innovation, and the critical role of cord blood transplantation in treating rare genetic diseases.

Industry Partner Focus: Mesoblast

FDA Approves First Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Therapy to Treat Steroid-refractory Acute Graft-versus-host Disease

On December 18, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ryoncil (remestemcel-L-rknd), an allogeneic (donor) bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy indicated for the treatment of steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease (SR-aGVHD) in pediatric patients 2 months of age and older. 

Ryoncil is the first FDA-approved MSC therapy. It contains MSCs, which are a type of cell that can have various roles in the body and can differentiate into multiple other types of cells. These MSCs are isolated from the bone marrow of healthy adult human donors. 

Spotlight on OMISIRGE® (Omidubicel-only)

Omisirge, (omidubicel-onlv), is an innovative cell therapy, approved for allogeneic transplant in adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older with hematologic malignancies. In a Phase 3 study comparing Omisirge to standard cord blood transplantation, Omisirge demonstrated significantly faster neutrophil recovery and reduced infections.

Helpful Links: In Case You Missed It

• Donate to the CBA Foundation: The CBA Foundation funds research and education to expand cord blood banking, advance its medical use, and foster innovation. Your donation helps drive these efforts—support our mission today!

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