New England Cord Blood: How Their Cord Blood Banking Service Works

New England Cord Blood provides private cord blood banking emphasizing personalized service and clinical-grade processing. Their workflow includes pre-delivery kit distribution, cord blood collection at birth, expedited shipping, laboratory processing and testing, cryopreservation in monitored storage, and management of multiple aliquots for future use. Confirm current accreditation, facility locations, and retrieval policies before enrolling.

An overview

New England Cord Blood offers private cord blood banking with an emphasis on personal service and clinical handling of umbilical cord blood and the stem cells it contains. The company positions itself as a family-run, privately held business that focuses on collection, testing, processing and long-term cryopreservation of cord blood samples.

Locations and accreditation

The company reports a base of operations in the New England region and has served international clients through partner locations and courier networks. The organization has historically held accreditation from the AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks), which sets standards for blood banking and cellular therapies.

How the service works

1) Pre-delivery preparation

Expect to receive a collection kit before your due date. The kit contains sterile collection materials and instructions to bring to the hospital or to give to a midwife for a planned home birth.

2) Collection at birth

After the baby is delivered and the umbilical cord is clamped and cut, a trained clinician collects the residual blood from the cord and placenta. The collection procedure typically adds only a few minutes to postpartum care.

3) Packaging and shipping

Once collected, the sample is sealed in the provided kit and arranged for expedited transport to the company's laboratory. Many private banks use dedicated couriers or contracted global shippers to maintain the cold chain and ensure timely delivery.

4) Processing and testing

At the laboratory, technicians process the sample to concentrate stem and progenitor cells and perform quality-control testing, including cell counts and infectious disease screens. The goal of processing is to preserve the highest viable cell fraction for potential future use.

5) Cryopreservation and storage

Processed samples are cryopreserved in controlled-rate freezers and transferred to long-term storage in monitored liquid nitrogen or vapor-phase systems. Facilities generally use computerized alarm and backup systems to maintain storage conditions and protect samples.

6) Sample management

Many banks split cord blood into multiple aliquots to allow partial releases if a family needs to use only a portion of the preserved material in the future.

What to consider

Ask about accreditation status, retrieval procedures for clinical use, detailed fees, and what tests are performed on arrival. Also verify whether the bank stores samples on-site or uses third-party storage and how they handle international transport and regulatory compliance. ¹

1. Confirm whether New England Cord Blood was founded in 1982 and whether it remains family-run and privately held.
2. Verify the company's current headquarters location and list of international service locations.
3. Confirm current accreditation status with AABB or other accrediting bodies.
4. Verify whether the company uses on-site storage or third-party long-term storage and details of their processing methods.