Expertise & Experience

Key Statistics

• Lymphoma is the most diagnosed cancer in people under 30 years old.

• 7 in 10 patients who require a life-saving stem cell transplant to treat their medical condition rely on unrelated donors for a matching unit.

Key Milestones, Research & Innovation

• 1988: The first successful cord blood stem cell transplant was performed on a child in Paris.

• 2005: SCBB was started by a team of haematologists and paediatricians who believed that many patients in Singapore could benefit from unrelated cord blood transplants if there was a supply of local cord blood units.

• 2006: The first patient in Singapore to undergo cord blood stem cell using donated cord blood was performed on a young boy with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency.

• 2018: Community Cord Blood Banking was introduced, integrating public cord blood donation with a family-based storage option that allows for future public donation.

• 2025: SCBB celebrates its 20th anniversary with over 320 cord blood stem cells facilitated and more than 14,500 quality cord blood units in its public inventory.

The application of cord blood has extended beyond stem cell transplants. In 2020, a collaboration between the Singapore National Eye Centre and SCBB has produced cord plasma for use as eye drops, utilising plasma from donated cord blood. This project has benefitted over 180 patients with severe dry eye syndrome for whom standard therapies were no longer effective.