A é1m private lab to store babies' stem cells is set to open in Manchester.

Parents will pay about é1,600 for the cells to be taken from the umbilical cord, frozen and stored until their child reaches adulthood.

Clients hope advances in medical science could one day allow doctors to use the cells to treat serious illnesses.

More than 11,000 parents have paid to freeze stem cells from their newborn babies since the service became commercially available in Britain.

Ballet dancer Darcey Bussell and footballer Thierry Henry are among the celebrities who have chosen to pay for the service.

Stem cells have the potential to transform themselves into other human cells, including brain, heart and liver tissue.

But critics claim only one in 20,000 babies is likely to need them for treatment.

And the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists only recommends the practice for families with a high risk of passing on genetic disorders.

The new lab, near Manchester University, will open in two months and will be run by UK Cord Blood Bank.

Extraction

It will be able to store up to 100,000 samples.

Parents will pay é650 for the extraction and é50 a year storage fees. Blood will be siphoned from the placenta after the birth and the stem cells will then be extracted before being frozen at minus 196 C in liquid nitrogen on to a plate the size of a credit card.

The company hopes to store cells from women in Europe and the Middle East.

Dr Peter Hollands, who founded the lab, also plans to set up a public bank of stem cells, where women can donate stem cells to treat anybody with a life-threatening disease.

Dr Hollands, who was part of the team behind the world's first test-tube baby, Louise Brown from Oldham, said: "We were drawn to Manchester because of the university and because of its fantastic commitment, not least in the financial commitment to such a great lab space.

"Tests have already shown that we can take these cells and make nerve cells, insulin, and muscle cells. We can do all the things that embryonic stem cells can do."

In a recent report, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said there was "insufficient evidence" to support commercial storage, but it did recommend a national store for babies at risk of genetic diseases.

The European Group on Ethics in Science and Technology said the centres raised "serious ethical criticisms" as cord stem cells at present have no medical use.