Collection of Surplus Human Material to Develop Novel Therapies
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Collection of Surplus Human Biological Material for the Development of Novel Therapies
IRAS ID
264829
Contact name
Kerry Sharp
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Adaptimmune
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Adaptimmune is a biotechnology company and our primary goal is to improve the ability of the body's own immune cells to destroy diseased cells like cancer cells. The immune cells can provide an effective line of defence against foreign microorganisms but their ability to attack the body’s own diseased tissue like cancer is not always effective. Adaptimmune has developed a technology that improves the ability of immune cells to attack diseased cells thus providing an alternative treatment to patients.
The validation and development of our technology rely heavily on all types of diseased and healthy human tissue including peripheral blood, cord blood and bone marrow. We use the diseased tissue to understand how this is different from the healthy tissue. The different types of healthy tissue are also critical to evaluate the toxicity of our therapies before we can use in real patients. In addition to the different types of tissue, we might use body fluids like urine because they can provide clues to disease status and progression.
The other aspect of our research involves using tissues in DNA and RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) analysis. This is necessary to identify and optimise a part of some immune cells that is responsible for attacking the diseased cells. In addition, the DNA/RNA analysis would allow us to increase our understanding of the differences between diseased and healthy tissue and analyse changes in non-responsive and relapsed disease.
The scope of this study is to use surplus material destined for clinical waste to develop our technologies. Although there is no immediate benefit to the participant for using their material, the knowledge obtained is potentially beneficial to society. This knowledge might lead to intellectual property rights but we will not commercialise any material we obtain.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0680
Date of REC Opinion
22 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion