Senators Andrew McDonald and Senator Len Fasano toured Lifeline Cryogenics Cord Blood Bank on September 18th ,in recognition Stem Cell Awareness Day. Senator Fasano was instrumental in creating the state mandate for education of cord blood banking. Dr. Gad Lavy MD. conducted the tour and demonstrated the process of cord blood collection, processing and storage.

(From left to right) Senator Andrew McDonald, Patty Reed, Dr Gad Lavy, Marion Welch and Senator Len Fasano.

To celebrate Stem Cell Awareness Day there are many activities and events around the country. In Albany NY, you can see the screening of The award-winning documentary Terra Incognita: Mapping Stem Cell Research will be shown on September 23, 2009, at 7 p.m. at the David Axelrod Institute, 120 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY. There is also a national poetry contest sponsored by California Institute of Reproductive Medicine: The winner (or winners) will receive a framed stem cell image of their choice from those on the CIRM Flickr photostream. If the winner(s) prefer, the image can be framed alongside their poem. The winning poem(s) will also be posted on the Stem Cell Awareness Day and CIRM Websites and may be printed in the CIRM annual report. Poems of 250 words or less that relate to the subject of stem cell science should be submitted by September 14th to stemcellday@cirm.ca.gov.

“Every family knows they are one phone call or one diagnosis away from needing what stem cell research can yield for us.”
-Speaker Nancy Pelosi
U.S. House of Representatives