About
The Biobank is housed in a brand new, purpose-built facility at the University Hospital of Wales.
The facility provides a large storage space for up to 900,000 biological samples including blood, urine, tissue and saliva. Patients and healthy volunteers kindly donate these biological samples to enable researchers to gain a deeper understanding of diseases. The samples are crucial in allowing researchers to find better ways to diagnose, prevent, treat and possibly find a cure to a wide range of medical conditions.
Samples can be stored in both ultra-low temperature freezers and vapour phase liquid nitrogen, with additional storage at -20°C, +4-6°C and at room temperature. We also have dedicated lab space for sample processing and a phlebotomy suite for sample collection.
We provide fresh, frozen and processed (serum, plasma, slides) samples which are collected and stored to the highest standards. We have robust procedures and policies in place for all activities we undertake. The facility adheres to all relevant quality standards in biobanking and is certified to ISO 9001:2015 for our quality management system.
Supporting other biobanks
We underpin the activities of the University's eight existing biobanks, providing infrastructure support and governance coordination in order to ensure their long-term sustainability.
We support the following biobanks:
- Archie Cochrane Biobank
- Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Bank
- Cardiff School of Dentistry Tooth Bank
- National Centre for Mental Health Biobank
- SWIFT (South Wales Initiative for Fetal Tissue) Research Tissue Bank
- Wales Cancer Bank
- Wales Kidney Research Tissue Bank
- Welsh Neuroscience Research Tissue Bank
Find out how you can play a part in the Biobank, either as a volunteer or by joining our dynamic team.