BEIJING, Sept. 20 -- Shanghai opened its fourth stem cell donor databank Sunday, seeking donations from the public all year around.

Zhang Jin, who is in charge of stem cell donations at the Shanghai Red Cross Society, said more than 53,000 volunteers had donated blood samples to the Shanghai-based collection pool by the end of last month and 63 leukaemia patients had found their matching marrows.

Stem cells, which can be extracted from embryos a few days old, children and even adults, are capable of growing into any of the 300 different kinds of cell in the human body.

Isolated from the blood or bone marrow, stem cells are able to form blood and immunity cells. 

Stem cell transplants are now routinely used to treat patients with cancer and other disorders of the blood and immunity systems. Enditem

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)