Scientists can keep the cells frozen for decades
ONCE a dentist removes a child’s teeth, they store them in a vial of that person’s own blood to protect them while they are transported to a lab.
Once in the lab, scientists collect the dental pulp from each tooth which all contains that person’s unique stem cells.
The team then perform a number of quality control steps to ensure the cells survive and then send a final report to the person’s family.
This includes a certificate of storage saying where the cells are being kept and a unique number which identifies the person whose cells they are.
The team keeps the cells frozen at very cold temperatures until the day they are needed, which could be more than 30 years from now, when, for example, the person falls ill and needs treatment. The team sends the cells directly to the doctors who need them.
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Wednesday 19 June 2013
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