A national charity investing £10 million creating a national tissue bank that will advance breast cancer research has chosen Dundee as a key location for the development.
The city already has a well-established tissue bank at Ninewells Hospital that has been gathering samples for use in local research since 1997. Now, along with three other centres, experts from Dundee University and NHS Tayside will work together to run the UK’s first national tissue bank, making samples available to researchers across the country.
This coalition of centres will store breast tissue samples donated by patients throughout the country safely and consistently, and will be available to scientists in the UK and Ireland. There is not such a large resource of breast tissues like this available to scientists and doctors anywhere in the world.
Historically access to suitable materials for research has been completely dependent on a scientist’s location and contacts, according to Breast Cancer Campaign, the charity funding the national tissue bank with support from Asda’s Tickled Pink campaign. The charity said the situation had been “a major barrier” to translating research into potential new treatments and, in the long term, saving lives.
From tissue samples researchers will be able to glean vital but anonymous information about the patient, the characteristics of their cancer, family history, treatments and, over time, their effectiveness and whether the disease progresses or recurs.
Professor Alastair Thompson is chairman of the Tissue Bank Management Board and professor of surgical oncology at Dundee University. He said, “The importance of the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank to both scientists and people with breast cancer cannot be underestimated. We really appreciate the support of the women and men of Tayside and north-east Fife who have long been supporters of tissue banking.
“This revolutionary, national approach to tissue banking will ensure that research is fast-tracked from laboratory advances into clinical practice. In the coming years we will see the benefits for people with breast cancer, as research using tissues from the bank will lead to better prevention, earlier diagnosis and improved treatments which have the potential to save the lives of many thousands of people.”
The tissue bank is expected to cost £10 million over the next five years.
Staff and customers of Asda raised over £1 million last year through the Tickled Pink campaign, part of the supermarket chain’s commitment to the bank. In addition a grant of £1 million from breast cancer charity Walk the Walk has recently been awarded to the initiative as part of its long-term support of breast cancer causes.
Asda chief financial officer Judith McKenna said, “The launch of this pioneering tissue bank is only possible because of the continued support we receive from customers and colleagues. We would like to thank everyone for their hard work and dedication over the past 15 years.
“We hope this will play a significant role in helping the thousands of people who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.”
Walk the Walk founder and chief executive Nina Barough said, “Our goal is to fund vital breast cancer research where we know it will make a huge difference to the lives of people with breast cancer. The Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank undoubtedly fulfils this criterion and we are hugely excited to be awarding a grant to this groundbreaking project.”