Dr. Broxmeyer is the lead author of the seminal 1989 PNAS paper suggesting human umbilical cord blood as a source of transplantable hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells⁽¹⁾. He was largely responsible for the development of the scientific basis for cord blood transplantation. In this lecture Dr. Broxmeyer begins by reviewing the exciting events that led to the first cord blood transplant 21 years ago⁽²⁾. He next reviews the present status of cord blood transplantation (over 14,000 such transplants have been performed) and provides an assessment of its future potential.

 

Dr. Broxmeyer is the Distinguished Professor and Mary Margaret Walther Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Broxmeyer's area of research is regulation of hematopoietic and embryonic stem cell self-renewal, proliferation, survival, differentiation and migration, hematopoiesis and immune cell activity.
The Cord Blood Forum is grateful to the American Society of Hematology and to Dr. Broxmeyer for allowing the presentation of this highly educational lecture.