Skip to content

University of Bradford's Ethical Tissue wins national biobank of year award

Published:

The University of Bradford's tissue bank, Ethical Tissue, has been named as biobank of the year by UK Clinical Research Collaboration Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre at the UK Biobank Showcase held at the Oval in London.

The Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre asked researchers to nominate biobanks that have made their work possible and helped facilitate ground-breaking research. Candidates were shortlisted based on their contribution to research, including access to samples, quality and service. Bradford beat off competition from over 60 member biobanks, including many at Russell Group Universities, to win the prestigious accolade.

Ethical Tissue is a research tissue bank, licensed by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), to collect, store and supply a wide range of human tissue, cells and fluids to biomedical research groups in academia and industry.

Ethical Tissue offers a streamlined way of providing the research community with access to human tissue:

  • Researchers receiving samples from Ethical Tissue are not required to have individual project-based ethical approval from the National Research Ethics Services (NRES)
  • Once applications have successfully been through the streamlined approval process in Ethical Tissue, anonymised bio-samples and data can be issued to researchers throughout the UK and abroad. Our Ethical Approval status greatly reduces the time from application to receiving tissue
  • Bio-samples can be sourced throughout the UK and abroad

Ethical Tissue also offers additional services including:

  • On-site healthy volunteer consent and samples in academia and industry
  • Compliance audits and HTA training sessions
  • Support for NRES Approval and HTA Licensing Applications in the UK
  • Method development or tissue processing to meet your requirements
  • Management of clinical trial samples
  • Management of 'end-of-trial' tissue samples
  • Long-term, archive storage

Research Nurse Joanne Mullarkey (pictured), who received the award on behalf of Ethical Tissue, said: “The Ethical Tissue team are very proud and excited to receive this award. It recognises our efforts to encourage tissue donation and to ensure that donations are used in high quality research projects aimed at improving healthcare for patients in the future. None of this could be achieved without the help of many consultants and healthcare professionals throughout Yorkshire. They understand the value of what we are trying to do and we are grateful for their continued support.

“Most importantly this award also recognises the valuable contribution made by donors. Amazing advancements in medical science would not happen without them. We want to ensure people have the opportunity to make a difference by choosing to donate as healthy volunteers, as patients or after they have passed away. Our commitment is to ensure those donations are used for the benefit of all. The generous people of Yorkshire are literally changing the face of medicine for the rest of the world. To be a part of this is an honour and a privilege for us.”