Umbilical Cord Blood, at the Cutting Edge of Today’s Medicine

“Saving Grace”

From: Al Jazeera America’s TECHKNOW Presents

Thursday, 17 July 2014

This Saturday, July 19th at 7:30 pm ET/4:30 pm PT, Al Jazeera America’s “TechKnow” shows us one of the most exiting areas of medical research – how umbilical cord blood is being used to treat brain disease and injury.

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg. Credit: Al Jazeera.

“Techknow” host and mechanical engineer Dr. Shini Somara takes us inside Duke Children’s Hospital, where a team of doctors is treating young Grace Matthews, an infant with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, characterized by the tell-tale swelling of the baby’s head.  We go behind-the-scenes on the high-tech experimental treatments, as doctors infuse Grace with stem cells from her own umbilical cord, and we meet another young patient who experienced “miraculous” progress from the use of umbilical cord stem cells.

The medical equivalent of gold, we’re just at the tip of understanding how stem cells from cord blood, harvested at the time of birth, can be used to help the brain regenerate and heal from injuries and damage.

“I personally believe cell therapy, and regenerative medicine, is going to be the next big advance in medicine, and that cells like cord blood are going to drive that forward,” reports Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

The program is airing Saturday, July 19th at 7:30PET/4:30P PT;

Repeats 10:30P ET/7:30P PT

Find Al Jazeera America near you: www.aljazeera.com/getajam

About Al Jazeera America’s “TechKnow”:

Al Jazeera America’s “TechKnow” is a half hour documentary show that airs weekly on Saturdays at 7:30 pm ET/4:30 pm PT.  A show about innovations that can change lives, “TechKnow” explores the intersection of hardware and humanity in a unique way – it’s a show about science, by scientists. “TechKnow” rotating cast of hosts includes mechanical engineer Dr. Shini Somara, molecular neuroscientist Dr. Crystal Dilworth, entolomologist Phil Torres, biologist Marita Davison, engineer Kosta Grammatis, science writer Kyle Hill, former CIA operative and analyst Lindsay Moran, neuroscientist Rachelle Oldmixon and neurobiologist Cara Santa Maria.

Source: Al Jazeera America’s “TechKnow”

Contact: Jocelyn Austin, Director, Publicity

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ZenMaster

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For more on stem cells and cloning, go to CellNEWS at

http://cellnews-blog.blogspot.com/

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