Biobanks
Our biobanks are places where collections of human tissues, cells and blood are stored ready for use in medical research.
Biobanks are in hospitals, universities, research institutions and private companies. A biobank can contain many different types of biological samples e.g. tissue samples, DNA and blood.
It may also contain information such as:
- health records
- diet and lifestyle information
- family history of disease
- gender
- age
- ethnicity
Researchers need to access and test large numbers of samples to get good results that are statistically accurate. We cannot collect all these samples at once. They need to be saved up over time and stored in a biobank so that researchers can test them in batches. This makes the best use of equipment and time. It also makes comparisons easier for the researcher. See the video below for more information on Newcastle Biobanks.