The Seventh Edition NetCord-FACT (Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy) International Standards for cord blood collection, banking, and release take effect January 15th, 2020. If you haven't had time to fully digest the updated standards, or have questions about preparing your organization to meet them, join Paul Eldridge, PhD, in this installment of the Share the Science webinar series.

Comprised of one steering committee, three subcommittees, and a total of 30 representatives, the committee for the new NetCord-FACT International Standards began their development process in January 2018. The Standards contain important additions and changes to requirements to reflect current processes typical in a cord blood bank. These changes maintain the relevance of the Standards in the cord blood field. The committee’s commitment, expertise, and experience is invaluable to the development of these Standards.

In this timely webinar, Dr. Eldridge, Director of Advanced Cellular Therapeutics Facility at University of North Carolina Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program and chair of the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) standards committee, will review the significant changes to the Seventh Edition of the NetCord-FACT Cord Blood Standards. He will also provide examples for effective implementation.

What will you learn during this webinar?

Attend to learn the major content changes to the NetCord-FACT International Cord Blood Standards, including:

• Full implementation of ISBT 128 and Eurocode
• Partial label at distribution for administration
• Detached segments
• Testing and specification requirements
• Accreditation of HLA typing laboratories

You will also learn specific changes applicable to parts B, C, D, and E of the NetCord-FACT International Cord Blood Standards.

Additional Materials

The FACT Standards webpage was updated with the new Cord Blood Standards, accompanying Accreditation Manual, and other associated documents. These are available to download for free at: http://www.factwebsite.org/cbstandards/. Printed copies can be purchased online at the FACT Store.

There is a new tool highlighting the changes.  A redlined compare document highlighting edits from the 6th to 7th edition is now available.

SHARE THE SCIENCE
with
Paul Eldridge, Ph.D.

Director at the Advanced Cellular Therapeutics Facility,
UNC Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program

"Transition to the 7th Edition of the
NetCord-FACT Cord Blood Standards"

Free webinar.  Open to the public.
​
Thursday, January 16th, 2020 - 12pm Eastern Time
​
*Recording Now Available*

About the Speaker

Paul Eldridge, PhD, is the Director at Advanced Cellular Therapeutics Facility, UNC Bone Marrow Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program. Dr. Eldridge’s personal interests are in chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-Ts) and hematopoietic stem cells, with a focus in cancer immunotherapy.

He is currently the chair of the FACT Standards Committee and is a FACT Inspector of cellular therapy processing for minimal and more than minimal manipulation. He is Co-chair of the WBMT Graft Processing Committee.

Save the Cord Foundation and WellSky are proud to welcome Josefine Teeler, as our featured speaker for our next edition of Share the Science on December 12th, 2019. 

​Share the Science is a free webinar series focused on the cord blood industry and the latest research in this field.  As always, we invite both health professionals and the general public to join us for this unique online educational series. Learn more about this exciting educational series here.

​Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) matching for Cord Blood Units (CBU) is much more complex than blood typing. This webinar will cover how to find the best match and what information is needed to select the most optimal CBU based on HLA profiles.  Josefine Teeler, Team Lead - Transplant Center Services for Matchis Foundation will provide information on how matchgrade is determined for CBUs and the guidelines for selection.

She will also discuss the differences between n/6, n/8, and n/10 matchgrade. Attendees will also learn about minimal matchgrade and (permissive) mismatches. By choosing the best CBU for a patient not only HLA is considered, so therefore we will also briefly review the balance between matchgrade, cell dose and diagnosis of the patient.

What will you learn in this webinar?

Attendees of this Share the Science webinar will learn about cord blood unit selection based on HLA profiles and matchgrade.  Josefine will explain how matchgrade is determined. She will go into detail regarding minimal matchgrade and how this is influenced by cell dose and/or diagnosis.  She will review global guidelines as well as the characteristics and types of information regarding the HLA profiles that influence the final cord blood unit selection.

​SHARE THE SCIENCE
with
Josefine Teeler

Search Unit Team Leader at
MATCHIS Foundation

"HLA Matching for Cord Blood"

Free webinar.  Open to the public.
​
Thursday, December 12th, 2019 - 12pm Central Daylight Time

About the Speaker

Josefine Teeler is search unit team lead at Matchis foundation. She is also a search consultant performing analysis of patient’s profiles and Matched Unrelated Donor (MUD) and/or Cord Blood Units (CBU) selections on a daily basis. She advises physicians and clinical immunologists in the Netherlands on selecting the best possible product/donor for their patient taking into account HLA profiles, secondary criteria, virology, accreditation status of registries and (local) legislations.

At Matchis she is also responsible for the development of the internal educational program for new search coordinators and other employees. Apart from these activities, she developed educational materials for students from primary and secondary school regarding the subject Stem Cell transplantation. Ms. Teeler is also involved in the educational committee of the WMDA and is working together with other WMDA members on the revision of the international paper regarding the Search Coordinator job description.

Save the Cord Foundation and Cord Blood Association (CBA) have come together for an exclusive educational project designed to dispel some of the most common myths or misunderstandings regarding cord blood.  Working as a team, we interviewed key leaders and experts in the cord blood industry and several cord blood transplant recipients. The questions were collected and curated by CBA. The interviews were led by Charis Ober, Executive Director of Save the Cord Foundation, during the inaugral Cord Blood Connect meeting in Miami, Florida. To date, we have produced 9 videos highlighting a selection of the common cord blood myths provided by CBA. 

We recommend you begin exploring this educational series by watching this interview with Dr. Colleen Delaney and her patient, Gregg Gordon.