Kobe Children's Hospital 1 article published in JoVE Developmental Biology Isolation and Characterization of Human Umbilical Cord-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Preterm and Term Infants Sota Iwatani1, Makiko Yoshida2, Keiji Yamana1, Daisuke Kurokawa1, Jumpei Kuroda1, Khin Kyae Mon Thwin1, Suguru Uemura1, Satoru Takafuji1, Nanako Nino1, Tsubasa Koda, Masami Mizobuchi4, Masahiro Nishiyama1, Kazumichi Fujioka1, Hiroaki Nagase1, Ichiro Morioka5, Kazumoto Iijima1, Noriyuki Nishimura1 1Department of Pediatrics, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 2 Human umbilical cord (UC) can be obtained during the perinatal period as a result of preterm, term, and postterm delivery. In this protocol, we describe the isolation and characterization of UC-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) from fetuses/infants at 19-40 weeks of gestation.