Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre Biobank

• Research type

  Research Tissue Bank

• IRAS ID

  333884

• Research summary

  Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre Biobank

• REC name

  North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/NW/0104

• Date of REC Opinion

  16 Apr 2024

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion

• Data collection arrangements

  Maternal Fetal Health Research Biobank (MFHRB) will hold samples from pregnant, non-pregnant women, men and babies under 1 week old. Donors will be consented, and samples will be collected under The Tommy’s Project - a coordinated antenatal and tissue data study of pregnancy outcome and related disease (15/NW/0829) and transferred from the existing Tommy's Biobank into the new Maternal and Fetal Health Research Biobank within the Maternal Fetal Health (MFH) Research centre at 5th floor, St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester.

  This tissue collection centre has the expertise and trained midwives to consent for the MFHRB project. The samples will be collected, processed and stored by the biobank staff at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester.

  The MFHRB Manager will be responsible for the operational management of the Biobank. Tissue will be released following application to the Tissue Access Committee (TAC). Oversight is provided by the Research Governance and Human Tissue Committee.

• Research programme

  Our aim is to find causes for pregnancy losses and related complications, and the MFHRB will exist to provide the samples necessary to aid the research in to finding causes and leading to prevention of these conditions. The collection site will consent, collect tissue and process them according to the Tommy’s standard operating procedures. We acknowledge that samples and data are donated on the basis that they will be used for the benefit of patients and for society in general. This means that the Biobank is responsible to ensure that they are used appropriately. Our objectives are as follows: • To develop an infrastructure which enables researchers to access samples through the MFHRB application system. • To establish a regulatory compliance with HTA in conjunction with researchers. • To work with tissue collection centre so that samples are collected and handled appropriately for access by researchers. • To link human tissue to the demographic details for individual patients in an anonymised way. • To explore mechanisms underpinning pregnancy complications leading to the development of new treatments and new management strategies. • To explore whether in utero conditions predispose to issues later in life for mother and infant.

• Storage license

  12552

• RTBTitle

  Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre Biobank

• Establishment organisation

  Manchester University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Establishment organisation address

  Trust Headquarters, Cobbett House

  Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road

  Manchester

  M13 9WL