Biobank about us

Funded by Blood Cancer UK, the UK CLL Biobank was established in 2008 as a centralised biorepository for multiple clinical trials developed by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) CLL Study Group.

It's purpose is to drive and facilitate research to investigate the biological basis of CLL heterogeneity and in doing so, identify and validate new drug targets and biomarkers. It provides researchers with access to a large number of high-quality, clinically annotated samples from well defined, uniformly treated patient cohorts.

Leadership and management

The biobank is led by Professor Andy Pettitt (Director) and Dr Melanie Oates (Manager) who oversee a team of biobank technicians. It is embedded within the University of Liverpool Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Facility, which provides high-quality laboratory space, state-of-the-art equipment, managerial oversight and quality assurance. The NCRI CLL Study Group functions as the sample access committee.

Governance oversight

The biobank is overseen by a Governance Committee with an independent Chair (Dr Russell Patmore) and representation from key stakeholders including the NCRI CLL Study Group, UK CLL Forum, CLL Support and Blood Cancer UK. This provides a pathway of accountability to the CLL research community, the CLL patient community and the funder. Legal responsibility for the biobank resides with the Sponsor (University of Liverpool), with internal reporting pathways to ensure regulatory compliance.

Consumer involvement

Patients contribute to biobank governance through consumer representation on the Governance Committee. This provides a formal channel of communication with the national patient community to promote awareness of the biobank and capture any feedback, ideas and suggestions about how it might be improved. Patients are also involved in decisions about releasing samples for research through consumer representation on The NCRI CLL Study Group, which functions as the sample access committee.