The $15 million, 20,000-square-foot facility includes a processing laboratory and cryogenic-storage containers that can store nearly 14,500 units of cord blood.
It is one of two public cord-blood banks in New York, meaning it doesn’t charge a fee for a cord-blood donation and donated cord blood is available to “anyone who needs it,” Upstate Medical said in a news release.
The bank will collect, test, process, store and distribute umbilical-cord blood that families throughout central and northern New York can donate for use by those in need of life-saving medical treatments and in medical research, Upstate Medical said.
Upstate’s Community campus, the former Community General Hospital, is home to Upstate’s obstetric services, the medical school said.
Funding for the project is made possible by a $15 million grant that New York State Sen. John DeFrancisco (R–Syracuse) secured, Upstate Medical said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
PHOTO CAPTION: Upstate Medical University on Thursday formally opened its $15 million cord-blood bank, which is located at its Community campus at 4910 Broad Road in Onondaga. It is one of two public cord-blood banks in New York, the medical school said. (Eric Reinhardt / BJNN)