System and method for extraction and cryopreservation of bone marrow

1. A method for optimizing recovery of stem cells from cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining a cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments; optionally, processing the cadaver bone into cadaver bone fragments;

(b) submerging the cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments in a solution comprising bleach, thereby obtaining a bleached bone product; and then

(c) submerging the bleached bone product in a solution comprising hydrogen peroxide, thereby obtaining a treated bone product;

(d) processing the treated bone product to extract bone marrow cells; and

(e) collecting the extracted bone marrow cells, thereby recovering the stem cells contained therein.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bleach is about a 10% bleach solution.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the bleach solution yields about 5,000 ppm free chlorine.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments is submerged in bleach for about 10 to about 25 minutes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen peroxide is a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of transferring the bleached bone product from a container comprising the bleach solution to a container containing the hydrogen peroxide solution.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of agitating the bleached bone product within the hydrogen peroxide solution.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (c) of submerging the bleached bone product in a solution comprising hydrogen peroxide comprises:

(i) submerging the bleached bone product in a container containing the hydrogen peroxide solution;

(ii) detecting foam or froth associated with the bleached bone product; and

(iii) repeating steps (b) and/or (c) until no foam or froth is detected.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising a step manually removing soft tissue from a bleached bone product that is associated with foam or froth in step (ii).

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein an inert contrast dye is added to the solution comprising hydrogen peroxide to enhance visibility of any foam or froth associated with the bleached bone product.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of transferring the treated bone product into a container containing an electrolyte solution.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing in step (d) comprises grinding the treated bone product to obtain ground cadaver bone, wherein grinding uses a bone grinder in the presence of a grinding medium.

13. 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, and an electrolyte medium.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the grinding medium promotes extraction of bone marrow cells from the ground cadaver bone.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the ground cadaver bone is captured on a filter or sieve and a filtrate that passes through the filter or sieve comprises bone marrow cells which include stem cells.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising incubating the captured ground cadaver bone in a digestive solution comprising collagenase and/or neutral protease to extract vertebral bone adherent mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (vBA-MSCs) from the captured ground cadaver bone.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments are derived from a vertebral body, an ilium, or a combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cadaver bone or cadaver bone fragments are derived from a plurality of cadaver bones from the same donor.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recovered stem cells comprise hematopoietic stem cells.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recovered stem cells comprise mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).