UCL / UCLH Biobank for Studying Health and Disease

The Biobank stores normal and pathological specimens, surplus to diagnostic requirements, from relevant tissues and bodily fluids. Stored tissues include; snap-frozen or cryopreserved tissue, formalin-fixed tissue, paraffin-embedded tissues, and slides prepared for histological examination. Tissues include resection specimens obtained surgically or by needle core biopsy. Bodily fluids include; whole blood, serum, plasma, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, milk, saliva and buccal smears and cytological specimens such as sputum and cervical smears. Fine needle aspirates obtained from tissues and bodily cavities (e.g. pleura and peritoneum) are also collected. Where appropriate the Biobank also stores separated cells, protein, DNA and RNA isolated from collected tissues and bodily fluids described above. Some of the tissue and aspirated samples are stored as part of the diagnostic archive.