The legacy of Dr. Hal Broxmeyer is felt strongly by his colleagues and the cord blood industry at large. He rightfully earned the title, "Father of Cord Blood."  While his passing in 2021 left us with a true sense of loss, we are forever grateful to him and his colleagues for the innovative work they have done over the years and, in particular, Dr. Broxmeyer's discovery regarding the ability to collect and store cord blood for future use in stem cell transplants, if prepared and frozen promptly after the birth of a child. Given this, it does seem appropriate that one of his last research projects was related to temperature. He and his team sought to answer. . . How does temperature affect the quality of collections and processing of cord blood for stem cell transplants? 

To answer this question and dive deep into this research led by Broxmeyer's lab, we have invited Dr. Maegan Capitano to speak on Share the Science. As the Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine,  Dr. Capitanto will go in-depth on her latest research undertaken with Dr. Broxmeyer regarding how collecting and processing human cord blood at 4°C within minutes of the baby's birth results in significantly enhanced numbers of rigorously defined phenotypic and functional hematopoietic stem cells.

During this session, Dr. Capitano will discuss a variety of studies from the late Dr. Hal Broxmeyer that show how hematopoietic stem cell numbers collected in cord blood at the birth of a baby is a limiting factor for efficacious use of cord blood in hematopoietic cell transplantation.

We are honoured to have Dr. Capitano join us for this very special edition of Share the Science. Please join us and learn more about this group's amazing work in the world of cord blood.

Maegan L. Capitano earned her B.A. in Biology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2004. During her summers in college, she worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the laboratory of Dr. Bo Dupont as a laboratory technician where she developed a passion for research. She next went on to earn a M.S. in Natural Science-Oncology in 2006 and her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 2012 at the State University of New York at Buffalo- Roswell Park Cancer Center Division under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Repasky. There she was given the George Meyer’s Award for Proficiency and Academic Excellence in Immunology.

She received her post-doctoral training (2012-2020) and worked as an Assistant Research Professor in the laboratory of Dr. Hal Broxmeyer at Indiana University School of Medicine focusing on Experimental Hematology. In 2021, she joined the faculty of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Indiana University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Capitano’s research focuses on discovering potential new agents that regulate hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell migration, proliferation, differentiation, and survival capacity under normal and stressed conditions. The Capitano lab strives to discover novel methods to 1) improve collection of donor cells for transplant so that the pool of eligible donors is increased and to 2) enhance the efficacy of donor cell engraftment thus shortening the hospitalization/isolation time of patients and subsequently decreasing treatment costs.

On behalf of the teams at Save the Cord Foundation and the Arizona Public Cord Blood Program, we wish to express our condolences to the family, friends and close colleagues of Dr. Hal Broxmeyer. 

A distinguished professor, a visionary in the medical field, a pioneer who changed the face of medicine through his scientific discoveries realizing the potential of umbilical cord blood stem cells. . . Dr. Hal Broxmeyer has long been regarded as the "Father of Cord Blood."  Importantly, he discovered that cord blood contained life-saving hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, similar to those found in bone marrow. He work did not stop there. He also confirmed that these cells, collected from something previously regarded as "medical waste," could be frozen for FUTURE use!

These two discoveries opened a whole new avenue of research and ultimately led to the regular use of cord blood stem cells in the treatment of over 80+ life-threatening diseases! His discoveries have literally saved thousands of lives and will continue in the years ahead to save thousands more. In fact, most scientists agree that we are only in the early stages of realizing the true potential of cord blood as research is on-going using cord blood in the emerging fields of regenerative medicine and gene therapy. 

Dr. Broxmeyer, you will be missed. 


To learn more about Dr. Broxmeyer's work, we would encourage you to read the article by Cord Blood Association honoring him, his work and his enormous impact on the medical world.  Read the full article here. . .

Dr. John Wagner

Founding Director of the Institute of Cell, Gene and Immunotherapeutics at the University of Minnesota

Dr. Wagner's research is focused on the development of novel cell therapies for treatment of life threatening diseases. Examples include the development of regulatory T cells that could be used in the treatment of autoimmunity, organ graft rejection as well as graft-versus-host disease, thymic progenitors to repair damaged immune systems, cardiac myoblasts to reverse heart failure, skeletal myoblasts to repair or replace dystrophic muscle fibers in muscular dystrophy, and expansion of the blood-forming stem cell to speed blood and marrow recovery after high doses of chemotherapy and radiation.

Dr. Wagner is best known for his pioneering work on the use of placental/cord blood as a source of stem cells for transplantation – a procedure that has now been performed in more than 50,000 patients worldwide.