(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Doug Schmid in the lab at Utah Cord Bank, Thursday, May 1, 2014. Utah Cord Bank is pushing to expand operations, giving parents more options for banking their babies' cord blood

In 2007, the University of Utah began collecting umbilical cord blood donations for the National Cord Blood Stem Cell bank.

Two years later, it expanded, adding Utahs major labor wards to its public banking effort giving more women in this most fertile of states the opportunity to save a life or contribute to research.

Treating disease with stem cells

Cell therapy

Cell therapies involve transplanting human cells to replace or repair damaged or diseased blood, tissue or organs. Bone marrow transplants of hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells are the most common.

How does it work?

Hematopoietic stem cells can form mature blood cells, such as red blood cells (which carry oxygen), platelets (to stop bleeding) and white blood cells (to fight infection). In addition to treating cancer and other blood diseases, they are being tested for use with autoimmune, genetic and a host of other disorders.

Why cord blood?

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Cord blood donations a rarity in fertile, charitable Utah