About Us

Introduction

The King’s College Denmark Hill Haematology (KCDHH) Biobank is located at the Rayne Institute and currently processes approximately 1,500 samples per year, which generates approximately 8,000 aliquots for research. We store viable cells and tissue components (mainly from bone marrow, blood and lymphoid tissue samples).

We collect samples from adult and paediatric patients with haematological diseases, including haematological cancers (including leukaemia, myeloma, lymphoproliferative and myeloproliferative disease), bone marrow failure syndromes (including aplastic anaemia, inherited bone marrow failure syndromes) and haemoglobinopathies (including sickle cell anaemia and thalassaemia). We also collect tissue samples from healthy individuals.

In November 2021, the KCDHH Biobank was granted ethical approval to re-establish the pre-existing King’s College London Haematology-Oncology Tissue Bank, introducing a new era of tissue banking for Haematology across King’s Health Partners (KHP). KCDHH focuses on biobanking samples collected from patients receiving their main clinical care at King’s College Hospital (KCH) and referring hospitals, including material sent to the South East Haematological Malignancy Diagnostic Service (SE-HMDS) which are surplus to diagnostic requirements.

The KCDHH Biobank is open to all academic researchers in KHP and other academic/NHS institutions. We also consider applications for access to samples and clinical data from Industry when partnered with an academic researcher.

Vision and key objectives

Biobank samples form a core resource for translational and discovery research across KHP Haematology. Our vision is for KHP to be an international powerhouse for Clinical Haematology and Translational Research in blood disease, to build on current excellence in delivery of clinical care, and remain at the forefront of innovation.  The Haematology Biobank is a key part of this vision and our key objectives are:

• To facilitate translational research by providing quality samples annotated with accurate and relevant clinical data to advance our understanding of haematological disorders, within a robust governance framework
• To promote collaborations in Haematology research across KHP and beyond

Licence and ethics details

The KCDHH Biobank operates under REC approval NE/18/0141 (Designated Individual (DI) Claire Troakes & the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) Licence Number 12293).

How we are governed

1. Governance Committee

The Governance Committee has overall responsibility for access, operations, compliance, audit and governance of the research biobank and meets at 6-monthly intervals. Members of the Governance Committee include: the chair, clinical leads (myeloid/ lymphoid/ myeloma/ transplant and benign), SE-HMDS representative, histopathology representative, non-clinical scientific representatives, KCL Head of Tissue Banking for Health Schools, biobank laboratory manager, biobank data manager, external expert representative (Consultant Haematologist external to KHP) and external lay representatives (up to 3 individuals).

 2. Operational Sub-committee

The Operational Sub-committee advises on Biobank operation matters, and monitors compliance with HTA licence requirements, standardisation of laboratory procedures and quality assurance. This group meets every 3 months. Members of the Operational Sub-committee include: chair, clinical leads, biobank laboratory manager and biobank data manager.

3. Access Sub-committee

The Access Sub-committee is responsible for reviewing applications to access tissue and/or clinical data for research purposes. It meets every 3 months, but ad hoc meetings for urgent sample requests may be arranged. Members of the Access Sub-committee include: chair, clinical leads, scientific representatives, external expert representative (Consultant Haematologist), biobank laboratory manager and biobank data manager.