The ZeBanC, Central Biobank of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), has taken in umbilical cord blood samples from Ukraine – the Tagesspiegel reports. 48,000 samples, stored by the Ukrainian company Hemafund as cell substitutes, are now stored in the biobank at the Virchow-Klinikum campus. The ZeBanC has been a partner biobank of the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) since 2019.
"When we were asked if we had space to host up to four nitrogen tanks of cord blood cells from Ukraine," Dr. Alexandra Stege, Operational Director of ZeBanC, is quoted in the article, "we immediately said we wanted to help as best and as unbureaucratically as we could."
The samples are expected to remain at the ZeBanC until the end of the year before being moved on to a new facility in a safe location.
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