The NIHR Guy's and St Thomas' Biomedical Research Centre supports the Infectious Diseases BioBank opened at King's College London in 2007. It is located in Guy's Hospital.
Our location in central London, with a large and diverse population on our doorstep, means that our potential to collect samples for study is huge. For example, our local population has some of the highest HIV infection rates in Europe.
We collect peripheral venous blood from individuals infected with pathogens, including HIV. hepatitis B and bacteraemias, for storage in the BioBank.
Peripheral venous bloods are fractionated into plasmas, lymphocytes and DNA and are then frozen. All samples are fractionated at one location by one dedicated team, using one set of standardised operations procedures in a category III laboratory.
Samples in the BioBank can be used for virtually any type of biomedical research, as all donations are from subjects who have given 'open consent.' Exclusions to this are studies which involve:
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testing of safety of cosmetics or consumer products
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animal research
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investigations into the termination of pregnancy or reproductive cloning
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stem cells
There are no commerical restrictions on the use of BioBank samples (eg BioBank materials can be used to produce commercial products by cloning).
Governance
The BioBank has a governance committee comprising of scientists and clinicians. Its functions are to ensure that the BioBank operates within current UK legislation, to make policy decisions and to assess the scientific meris of research applications from academic or commercial investigators in Europe or the USA.
It is also empowered to act as a local research ethics committee and provide ethical opinions for studies which apply to use BioBank samples.
Distribution of samples
If you wish to use BioBank samples, contact John Cason for an information pack.
Before receiving the samples, you must obtain a positive ethical opinion and project approval by the governance committee.
During this process, you must specify the number and type of samples you will need for your study.
After approval, UK researchers must sign a materials transfer agreement (MTA) and we will provide the samples together with a file containing the technical and clinical information held in the database. All clinical details are anonymised.
A materials transfer agreement for international collaborations which meets USA and European governmental standards is currently being prepared.
Contact us
John Cason
Director, Infectious Diseases BioBank
Email: john.cason@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7188 1180