The Cambridge Blood and Stem Cell Biobank is a tissue bank for samples from patients with haematological malignancies and normal individuals, including cord blood. We are based in the NHS Blood and Transplant Cambridge Centre on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, and since our foundation in 2009, most of our work has involved recruiting and collecting samples from patients both locally and nationally, in close collaboration with clinical and research staff. Our team consists of a core sample processing and quality monitoring laboratory, and research midwives and nurses liaising with clinical teams locally to actively recruit new and actively follow up existing patients on the study.

The bank has collected over 8000 blood and bone marrow-derived samples to date from patients with haematological malignancies and approximately 1000 normal individuals, all curated in a bespoke database designed to facilitate research activities. Samples are used by world-class research groups in the department and their collaborators, resulting in a number of peer-reviewed publications including several in high impact journals. The laboratory and clinical teams are supported by the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, the Cambridge Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, Wellcome Trust-MRC Stem Cell Institute, Cancer Research UK, Bloodwise and the West Anglian Comprehensive Local Research Network.