Wales Cancer Biobank
Wales Cancer Biobank (WCB) is a long-established, internationally reputable biobank in the UK that collects, stores, and provides biosamples and data for cancer research. It supports patients, researchers, and the research community by offering services such as bespoke collections, hosting, tissue microarrays, imaging, laser capture microdissection, and application support. WCB is licensed by the Human Tissue Authority and approved by Wales Research Ethics Committee, working towards standards like ISO20387:2018. It aims to facilitate cancer research and improve treatments through its extensive sample archive and support services.
Industries
Nr. of Employees
small (1-50)
Wales Cancer Biobank
Cardiff, Cardiff, United Kingdom, Europe
Products
Tissue microarray blocks
Paraffin recipient blocks containing arrayed tissue cores from multiple donor blocks for high-throughput slide-based molecular or histological analysis.
Digital whole-slide images / virtual slides
High-resolution scanned images of histology slides produced at multiple magnifications for remote review and computational analysis.
Hosted sample repository for external projects
Storage and management of externally generated translational or clinical trial samples under the biobank licence with agreed processing and storage terms.
Tissue microarray blocks
Paraffin recipient blocks containing arrayed tissue cores from multiple donor blocks for high-throughput slide-based molecular or histological analysis.
Digital whole-slide images / virtual slides
High-resolution scanned images of histology slides produced at multiple magnifications for remote review and computational analysis.
Hosted sample repository for external projects
Storage and management of externally generated translational or clinical trial samples under the biobank licence with agreed processing and storage terms.
Services
Design and execute custom sample collection protocols when archived samples do not meet project requirements, including fresh tissue collection for culture and atypical sample types.
Store and manage external clinical trial or translational research sample collections under the biobank licence with documented collaboration agreements and required ethics/consent documentation.
Produce multi-sample paraffin microarray blocks by extracting tissue cores from donor blocks and re-embedding into recipient blocks for high-throughput slide-based analyses.
Produce high-quality virtual slide images at multiple magnifications for research use, enabling remote review and digital analysis workflows.
Provide staff-operated laser microdissection to isolate specific cells or regions from tissue sections for downstream molecular analysis, with project-dependent costing.
Manage researcher applications, review and approvals, invoicing for cost recovery, supply scheduling and coordination of shipment logistics for supplied samples.
Design and execute custom sample collection protocols when archived samples do not meet project requirements, including fresh tissue collection for culture and atypical sample types.
Store and manage external clinical trial or translational research sample collections under the biobank licence with documented collaboration agreements and required ethics/consent documentation.
Produce multi-sample paraffin microarray blocks by extracting tissue cores from donor blocks and re-embedding into recipient blocks for high-throughput slide-based analyses.
Produce high-quality virtual slide images at multiple magnifications for research use, enabling remote review and digital analysis workflows.
Provide staff-operated laser microdissection to isolate specific cells or regions from tissue sections for downstream molecular analysis, with project-dependent costing.
Manage researcher applications, review and approvals, invoicing for cost recovery, supply scheduling and coordination of shipment logistics for supplied samples.
Expertise Areas
- Biobanking and biospecimen management
- Clinical sample collection and consenting
- Tissue microarray production
- Digital pathology and whole-slide imaging
Key Technologies
- Tissue microarray construction
- Whole-slide scanning / digital pathology
- Laser capture microdissection
- Online sample inventory and search portal