Clinical Research Facility: Exeter
Royal Devon Tissue Bank
The Royal Devon & Exeter Tissue Bank (RDETB) was set up to collect and store “spare” tissue or biological samples that could be collected at the time of routine clinical care, at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital or other collaborating NHS sites (e.g. Plymouth, Cornwall, North Devon, Taunton, Yeovil, and Torbay).
Samples are collected with the consent of the treating clinician and informed consent of the donor. In some cases, informed consent will be taken after the clinical procedure has been undertaken but always before the sample is removed from the clinical care environment to the tissue bank. For example, samples removed during emergency procedures, that are stored in the pathology/biochemistry department awaiting incineration, may be moved to the tissue bank following informed consent.
Participants willing to donate samples are given a unique ID number and all their samples and associated data are anonymised and stored under this unique number. No participant personal identifiable information is provided to researchers.
Samples currently available:
The RDETB manages samples of prostate, kidney, gut and bladder originally collected by the Exeter Tissue Bank, and study-specific collections from ongoing prospective studies.
New collections:
The RDETB team is happy to facilitate new prospective collections in order to answer study-specific research questions, which it would be anticipated would be involved with molecular and cellular factors involved in the initiation and progression of common diseases. This would include research into understanding the mechanisms of common diseases.
Application processes:
In the first instance, please contact the RDETB Co-ordinating Manager, Professor Angela Shore (a.c.shore@exeter.ac.uk) to discuss your potential project needs. This may include identifying appropriate academic/clinical collaborators.
Formal applications to set up a new collection or access stored samples should be made to the RDETB Steering Committee for review and approval.