NYBCe and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub are partnering to develop an iPSC platform derived from cord blood for the purposes of regenerative medicine.

      **TL;DR:** The New York Blood Center Enterprises (NYBCe) and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub are teaming up to create induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from cord blood, utilizing NYBCe’s collection of over 30,000 units, including rare HLA-homozygous donors, and Biohub’s expertise in reprogramming immune cells. These new cell lines will serve as shared research resources for regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and cell therapy, addressing a key challenge in the field: bridging the gap between lab-based biology and scalable, immune-compatible treatments.

      Most umbilical cord blood collected at birth is disposed of as medical waste after being clamped and cut, taking with it important stem cells that are immunologically naive, genetically diverse, and capable of being transformed into nearly any cell type. On April 30, the New York Blood Center Enterprises (which operates the oldest public cord blood bank) and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (a biomedical research network funded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan) announced their collaboration aimed at converting these discarded cells into a sustainable library of induced pluripotent stem cell lines from cord blood. These lines are intended to be broadly compatible with human immune systems and will be shared as research resources in fields like regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and cell therapy. Unlike many pharmaceutical collaborations that involve billion-dollar licensing deals or IPOs, this partnership addresses a structural problem in cell therapy: bridging the gap from laboratory biology to scalable and deliverable patient treatments.

      **The biology:** Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are adult cells reprogrammed to function like embryonic stem cells, allowing differentiation into any cell type. This technology was first developed by Shinya Yamanaka, who received the Nobel Prize in 2012 for demonstrating that introducing four specific genes could revert mature cells to a pluripotent state. iPSCs have since become the basis for a range of experimental therapies, including iPSC-derived neurons for Parkinson's disease, cardiomyocytes for heart failure, and immune cells for cancer treatment. Over 115 clinical trials involving pluripotent stem cell therapies are currently underway globally, treating more than 1,200 patients with no significant safety issues reported. The FDA has granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation to over 60 products, including the first iPSC-derived therapy for Parkinson's disease by iRegene. The global market for iPSCs is anticipated to rise from $2.6 billion in 2026 to $4.1 billion by 2031.

      The challenge isn't if iPSCs are effective but rather their sources. Most research utilizes iPSC lines from skin or blood cells of individual donors, resulting in lines with highly variable genetic backgrounds and immune profiles. When transplanted, the patient’s immune system may recognize these cells as foreign and attack them, necessitating lifelong use of immunosuppressive drugs that come with their own risks. Creating patient-specific iPSC lines is both costly and time-consuming. The field requires standard, well-characterized iPSC lines that can be compatible with large population segments without necessitating personalized manufacturing for each patient. This is where cord blood is valuable.

      **The resource:** The National Cord Blood Program, part of NYBCe’s Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, was founded by Dr. Pablo Rubinstein in 1992 with support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. As the world's first public cord blood bank, it maintained a large inventory of over 30,000 cord blood units consented for clinical transplantation and research. The program developed HEMACORD, the first FDA-licensed cord blood product, and its units have facilitated thousands of transplants for patients lacking a matched bone marrow donor. Cord blood is considered immunologically privileged, making its stem cells less likely to cause graft-versus-host disease compared to adult bone marrow. A phase 2 trial by Fred Hutch Cancer Center reported in April 2026 showed a 96% one-year survival rate in leukemia patients using pooled cord blood, with no severe cases of graft-versus-host disease.

      Among NYBCe’s collection are rare cord blood units from donors who are homozygous at key HLA loci, meaning they possess identical immune-compatibility genes on both chromosomes. These rare units are crucial, as iPSC lines derived from them could be compatible with a significant portion of the population. Research in Japan indicated that lines from around 50 homozygous donors could match over 90% of the Japanese population. The NYBCe-Biohub collaboration plans to use these homozygous units alongside LFKRI’s advanced cell sorting and hematology expertise to generate iPSC lines with extensive translational potential.

      **The approach:** This collaboration is structured as a multi-phase scientific project. CZ Biohub New York, which focuses on engineering immune cells, will provide expertise in reprogramming specific immune cell subsets into i