System and method for extraction and cryopreservation of bone marrow

1 . A method for recovering transplantable stem cells, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments that have been surface sterilized;

(b) preparing ground cadaver bone from the surface sterilized cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments and processing the ground cadaver bone in the presence of a grinding medium thereby extracting, at least, fat and bone marrow cells and obtaining a fatty emulsion comprising the extracted fat and bone marrow cells;

(c) placing the fatty emulsion in a centrifuge container capable of being centrifuged;

(d) centrifuging the centrifuge container under conditions such that bone marrow cells are concentrated or pelleted towards the bottom of the centrifuge container and a fat layer is formed towards the top of the centrifuge container; and

(e) draining the concentrated or pelleted bone marrow cells from the bottom of the centrifuge container while the fat layer remains in the centrifuge container, thereby collecting the extracted bone marrow cells and recovering transplantable stem cells,

wherein between steps (d) and (e) a bag clamp or a bag clip is placed on the centrifuge container just below the fat layer thereby physically separating the fat layer from the concentrated or pelleted bone marrow cells and preventing passage of the fat layer during step (e).

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments is surface sterilized ex vivo.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the cadaver bone is cut into cadaver bone fragments ex vivo.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of debriding the cadaver bone to remove soft tissue prior to step (b).

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein when the cadaver bone is a vertebral body, the vertebral body retains its anterior element during debriding such that its cancellous bone marrow remains hypoxic during debriding.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments is surface sterilized ex vivo.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the cadaver bone is cut into cadaver bone fragments ex vivo.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the grinding medium comprises two or more of a nuclease that cleaves both DNA and RNA, human serum albumin (HSA), heparin, an electrolyte medium, and a growth media.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing in step (b) comprises grinding the cadaver bone fragments in a bone grinder to obtain ground cadaver bone.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein processing in step (b) comprises tumbling or agitating the ground cadaver bone in the presence of a grinding medium to mechanically liberate bone marrow cells from the ground cadaver bone.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising one or two filtering steps to capture ground cadaver bone thereby producing a filtered fatty emulsion comprising extracted bone marrow cells.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or two filtering steps comprises rinsing the captured ground cadaver bone with grinding medium and combining the rinse flow thru to the filtered fatty emulsion comprising extracted bone marrow cells.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or two filtering steps comprises an about 200 μm or an about 500 μm filter.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments is surface sterilized ex vivo or wherein the cadaver bone is cut into cadaver bone fragments ex vivo.

15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising a step of debriding the cadaver bone to remove soft tissue prior to step (b).

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein when the cadaver bone is a vertebral body, the vertebral body retains its anterior element during debriding such that its cancellous bone marrow remains hypoxic during debriding.

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the grinding medium comprises two or more of a nuclease that cleaves both DNA and RNA, human serum albumin (HSA), heparin, an electrolyte medium, and a growth media.

18 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising a step of cryopreserving the bone marrow cells in a cryopreservation solution comprising one or more of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), 1,2-propanediol, ethylene glycol, formamide, 2,3-butanediol, hydroxyethyl starch (HES), dextran, sucrose, trehalose, lactose, raffinose, ribitol, mannitol, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP).

19 . A method for recovering transplantable stem cells, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments that have been surface sterilized;

(b) preparing ground cadaver bone from the surface sterilized cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments and processing the ground cadaver bone in the presence of a grinding medium thereby extracting, at least, fat and bone barrow cells and obtaining a fatty emulsion comprising extracted fat and bone marrow cells;

(c) filtering out the processed ground cadaver bone;

(d) placing the fatty emulsion in a centrifuge container capable of being centrifuged;

(e) centrifuging the centrifuge container under conditions such that bone marrow cells are concentrated or pelleted towards the bottom of the centrifuge container and a fat layer is formed towards the top of the centrifuge container; and

(f) draining the concentrated or pelleted bone marrow cells from the bottom of the centrifuge container while the fat layer remains in the centrifuge container, thereby collecting the extracted bone marrow cells and recovering transplantable stem cells,

wherein between steps (e) and (f) a bag clamp or a bag clip is placed on the centrifuge container adjacent to and just below the fat layer thereby physically separating the fat layer from the concentrated or pelleted bone marrow cells and preventing passage of the fat layer during step (f).

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the centrifuge container is a 250 mL bag.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the bone marrow cells are concentrated to 2×10 8 cells/mL-3×10 8 cells/mL after step (d).