The 3rd Annual International Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation Symposium was held June 3 and 4, 2005 in Los Angeles. The goals of the symposium were:

1. INCREASE AWARENESS AMONG TRANSPLANT PHYSICIANS AND OTHER MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS OF THE CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION.
   
   
2. ALLOW FOR EXCHANGE OF UP-TO-DATE BASIC AND CLINICAL DATA REGARDING CORD BLOOD TRANSPLANTATION AMONG LEADERS IN THE FIELD.

The 31 member faculty for the Symposium included leaders of the major transplant centers in the United States, France, Japan, Spain and Taiwan.

Attendees included visitors from Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, France, the UK, Israel, Mexico, Columbia, Cyprus, Switzerland, India, Sweden, Italy, Taiwan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Greece, Canada, Chile, Korea and from around the United States.

Topics reviewed included transplantation of adults, infectious complications and immune reconstitution, approaches to improve the efficacy of cord blood transplants, quality issues in cord blood banking, transplantation of children, regenerative medicine and accreditation issues. The Symposium concluded with a review of the Report of the Institute of Medicine which was requested by the United States Congress and which strongly supports cord blood banking and transplantation.

A summary of the Symposium and abstracts of the presentations will be published in a forthcoming issue of Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Information about obtaining reprints will be provided when they are available.