In another major advancement in the stem cell therapy space, LifeCell International has launched its menstrual blood stem cell banking service in seven cities across the country and it also claimed that menstrual blood was a rich source of stem cells which could be used to diagnose or treat medical conditions ranging from arthritis to Alzheimer's.

Last week, Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad announced a new therapy by which stem cells extracted from a patient's body fat could be used to give him/her fuller cheeks or breasts.

Both of these findings have revealed the importance of menstrual blood and body fat which was considered to be waste in most of the cases. Researchers are conducting more advanced research on the possibility of menstrual blood to be used in any human therapy. They would give a menstrual cup to participants of the study to collect the sample from which stem cells would be extracted in a laboratory.

James J. Barba, Chief Executive Officer of Albany Medical Center, said, “Diabetes, Parkinson's disease, cancer, spinal cord injury -- the solutions to these debilitating diseases and many, many others that plague humans might very well be found through the science of stem cells”.

This service would cost around Rs 29,900 for the first year, followed by an annual storage fee of Rs 1,500.

Dr. Shashi Singh, scientist working on adult stem cells at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, said that breast augmentation procedures using only fat had not worked out in the past but the new procedure offered a permanent solution to the problem.