The Section of Pathology & Tumour Biology in LIMM has been chosen to house the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank. This ground breaking initiative will see four centres around the country working together as one national resource to house the multi-million pound Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank (http://www.breastcancertissuebank.org/about-tissue-bank.php). Dr Valerie Speirs and a dedicated team will head up the Tissue Bank at The University of Leeds, with other sites named as the University of Nottingham, University of Dundee, and The Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. Currently there is no large source of breast tissue available to scientists and doctors anywhere in the world. This coalition of centres will store breast tissue samples, donated by patients throughout the country, safely and consistently and will be available to scientists whatever their location in the UK and Ireland.
From tissue samples researchers will be able to glean vital information about the patient, the characteristics of their cancer, family history, treatments, and over time their effectiveness, and whether the disease progresses or recurs.
The Tissue Bank will be accessible to all breast cancer scientists, throughout the UK and Ireland by the end of the year and was opened following a reception at number 11 Downing Street attended by Dr Speirs.