The Infectious Diseases BioBank at King's College London: archiving samples from patients infected with HIV to facilitate translational research.
The King's College London (KCL) Infectious Diseases BioBank opened in 2007 and collects peripheral venous blood (PVB) from individuals infected with pathogens including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). PVBs are fractionated into plasmas, lymphocytes and DNA and are then frozen. All donations are from subjects who have given 'open consent' so samples can be used for virtually any type of biomedical research. The HIV component of the BioBank contains samples from over 400 donations from 138 HIV+ patients. Thus, the KCL Infectious Diseases BioBank--together with establishments such as the Spanish HIV BioBank--is likely to expedite translational research into this infection.
Williams
Rachel
R
Department of Infectious Diseases, Guy's, King's College and St Thomas' School of Medicine, King's College London, 2nd Floor Borough Wing, Guy's Hospital, St Thomas' Street, London SE1 9RT, UK. rachel.j.williams@kcl.ac.uk
Mant
Christine
C
Cason
John
J
D018070:Biological Specimen Banks; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D001769:Blood; D005615:Freezing; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods