NCE
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation provides life-saving therapy for thousands of patients each year. However, many patients are not able to find an adult stem-cell donor. For these patients, umbilical cord blood could serve as a source of stem cells, but a single cord usually contains too few cells to repopulate an adult’s bone marrow. We therefore developed small, drug-like molecules that expand the stem cells and progenitor cells in cord blood. In murine models, these compounds very well in combination with another compound that did not expand cells as well, but maintained the cells in a more stem-like form. These compounds are available for license through our technology transfer office.