Message from Dr. Clifford Librach

As director of the Create Cord Blood Bank, I am pleased to welcome you to our website. In my role as director of the Sunnybrook and Women’s College Hospital Fertility Centre and the Create IVF Program, I have helped hundreds of couples achieve their dream of having a family, when they were faced with infertility. As part of the complex processes of in vitro fertilization (IVF), we often store precious embryos for these couples. Therefore, it was a natural extension for me to begin to store cord blood stem cells for our patients, and others across Canada.

Being affiliated with two world renowned institutions, the University of Toronto, and the Sunnybrook & Women’s College Health Sciences Centre (SWCHSC), and as a researcher myself, has allowed me to associate with some of the foremost experts in stem cell research in the world. Through these associations, and attendance at international conferences, I have come to appreciate the tremendous potential of these stem cells. On this website, we have listed the many diseases for which these cells have already been used to save or enhance lives, and the incredible potential for curing common diseases that could affect any one of us, such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

As someone involved in laboratory research and advanced reproductive technologies, I knew how important it was to find the best method available to store these precious cells. During my investigations, I quickly realized the shortcomings of the technology utilized by most of the banks in Canada, and around the world. Their samples were stored in large racks that had to be lifted in and out of the tank multiple times as new samples were added, and other samples were removed. This had the obvious potential to compromise the integrity of the cells. This led me to choose the most advanced system on the market, the robotic Bioarchive® system.

When the Bioarchive® robotic arm brings other samples into the tank, or removes them, your sample is not disturbed at all. The Bioarchive®’s failsafe barcoding system is also the best on the market for secure identification. This system is the landmark system currently being used by the FDA to develop standards for cord blood storage, and there is research strongly supporting the notion that this technology will keep your samples the safest. I believe that it is not used more widely by other banks because of the significantly higher cost of the system. However, I refuse to compromise the quality of our sample processing and storage, to increase profits.

As part of maintaining the highest of standards, we are committed to the voluntary accreditation offered by the Americal Association of Blood Bank accreditation (AABB), and plan to achieve this in the next year or so.

In addition, we comply with all Canadian government and FDA standards.

Our talented and dedicated laboratory staff have extensive experience and expertise in cord blood storage, and our sales, counseling, and administrative staff are committed to providing a personal touch for couples that wish to visit our facility in person, or communicate by telephone or email.

We are also committed to making the process from contacting us, to storing your blood, as simple and convenient as possible. No blood samples from mom need to be taken in advance. In addition, you can register any time before your due date, as long as you meet qualification criteria, we can get the kit to you, or to the hospital, before you deliver your baby.

We offer online registration, if you wish, and you can also make your payments online. Our prices are very competitive as well. To help lower income families, we offer reduced fees on approval of an application. Any couple who is storing their child’s stem cells for an active medical need in the child or a sibling, will not be charged for processing their sample.

In summary, I feel certain that the combination of an incredible team, the best technology around, and our academic affiliations, make us the very best choice for storing your child’s stem cells.

We hope that you will enjoy visiting our website, and will choose us to store your newborn’s precious cord blood stem cells.

Yours sincerely,

Clifford L. Librach, MD, FRCS(C), FACOG(REI)
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto,
Director of the CReATe Cord Blood Bank.