We are proud to support and facilitate large-scale biomedical, pharmaceutical, and clinical studies, enabling life-changing research in the academic, pharmaceutical and biotech communities.
Genomics
Our Future Health
Our Future Health is a groundbreaking and ambitious research programme. It aims to revolutionise the way to prevent, detect and treat diseases, paving the way to a population that lives in good health for longer.
Launched in collaboration with the public, charity and private sectors, this long-term programme involves the analysis of vast amounts of patient data, including genetic information, lifestyle and environmental factors.
By studying the health trajectories of millions of participants over many years, the study aims to gain critical insights into disease risk factors, early disease biomarkers, and design personalised interventions.
While Our Future Health aims to revolutionise healthcare, it also faces significant challenges and complexities, one of which is the sheer scale and scope of the project. Analysing vast amounts of data from thousands of participants over an extended period demands sophisticated infrastructure and robust data management systems.
We are proud to be providing:
End-to-end sample processing.
7 day operations.
Five teams operating three overlapping shifts 07:30 –20:00.
Diagnostics
Rapid-I
The RAPID-I study is UK’s first publicly funded, multi-centre trial for acute pancreatitis in over four decades. It focuses on the evaluation of infliximab, a drug derived from natural proteins and currently utilized to treat bowel and joint disorders.
The trial's objective is to test the efficacy and safety of infliximab as a potential treatment to enhance outcomes for individuals suffering from acute pancreatitis. It aims to collect samples from 290 participants.
Haematology
VIVO Biobank
VIVO Biobank (previously known as LLR) is UK's national bioresource for samples and data from children and young people with cancer.
It was formed in 2022 by merging Blood Cancer UK Childhood Leukemia CellBank (CellBank) with CCLG Tissue Bank. VIVO Biobank is funded by a partnership between Cancer Research UK and Blood Cancer UK.
The long-term cooperation between VIVO Biobank and UK Biocentre started in 2011 when CellBank expanded from a virtual bank of clinical trial samples stored in NHS laboratories to include samples from all children and young people with any form of leukaemia or similar haematological disease. CellBank was the first biobank to be supported by the services of UK Biocentre and we’ve continued to provide the sample processing and storage for all the liquid samples in VIVO Biobank.
Outbreak
COVID-19 pandemic
We became involved in the UK’s COVID-19 national clinical testing programme in March 2020 following the outbreak of Coronavirus in the UK. We were able to implement a high scale testing facility in less than one month. This included: construction of three new laboratories in a previously undeveloped space, procurement of equipment and a change in the workforce from 45 employees pre-COVID to over 1500 employees who collectively provide a 24-hour operation.
We built up our capacity of over 150,000 tests per day with the ability to scale that up when required, delivering test results back to the NHS in under 24 hours. The operation was underpinned by a purpose-developed LIMS and ISO15189 accreditation.
We are proud to have:
Been the first Lighthouse laboratory for the NHS Track & Trace programme.
Processed over 31 million samples.
Been able to scale from 45 employees to over 1,500.
Provided a 24-hour operation processing over 150,000 samples a day.
