Doctors at the Madras Veterinary College have look forward in the field of stem cell therapy for animals and suggest a revolutionary concept to the government of India to introduce an umbilical cord bank exclusively for animals in the city.

Dr B Justin William of the department of veterinary surgery and radiology, Madras Veterinary College said that so far there is only one bank present in the city that too for human beings but doctors proposed the similar bank for animals also.

With the help of these banks animals would be heeled at a faster rate especially horse and dogs will get better and fast treatment with respect to spine and nerve related injuries.

He further said that currently the subject is under proposal stage and needs to get approval. Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India will be asked by the college to grant Rs 24 crores for the proposed project. The idea of developing an umbilical cord bank for animals came to notice, when a nine-month-old boxer dog Rambo got a spinal cord injury after an accident and doctors from the Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital have treated the dog with its own adult stem cells harvested and grafted on the injured site.

This is the first ever case witnessed in India when a dog was treated by autologous stem cell therapy to recover from a spinal cord injury. The stem cell processing was done in the Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Chennai.

Dr P Thangaraju, TANUVAS vice-chancellor said that earlier also this kind of therapy was done but the animal fail to survive. He said that shortly the research will be initiated on bird injuries also. He also said that opening umbilical cord bank will help animals to recover with all regenerative diseases.

With the development of stem therapy, it has become faster for animals to get themselves recovered from nerve related injuries.

An international seminar will be held on topics like stem cell research and biotechnology by the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in the college on July 15 and 16.