Moorfields Biobank

Introduction

Moorfields Biobank is a collection of stored human eye tissue and patient samples such as blood, eye fluids, urine, saliva, donated by patients attending Moorfields Eye Hospital and deceased donor eye tissue from eye banks, such as NHS Blood and Transplant (NHS BT). In addition, consented tissue may be received from eye banks outside of the UK.

The Biobank was set up in June 2010 as a joint project between the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital to facilitate vision and eye research.

Regulatory framework

Moorfields Biobank has been ethically approved by an NHS Research Ethics Committee as a research tissue bank. Moorfields Biobank stores tissue under the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology’s Human Tissue Authority Research License, and the bank is located at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology.

What is the purpose of the Moorfields Biobank?

Studying sample from patients with eye disease is an excellent way of discovering why and how eye disease develops and progresses; this in turn helps in the development of new diagnostic tests and drugs to treat eye disease. The purpose of the Moorfields Biobank is to have tissue available alongside its associated clinical and imaging information for research projects studying various eye diseases. The samples are not donated for a specific research project but will be stored and used only in ethically approved research projects at Moorfields Eye Hospital, and in other research centres in the UK and around the world, including industry partners.  All projects approved by Moorfields Biobank, whether in the UK or abroad, agree to carry out their research to our high ethical standards.

Information for patients

Patients are identified as suitable donors by the direct healthcare team responsible for their care, who can then discuss the option of donation of samples to the Moorfields Biobank. The collection of human donor samples for research is organised through collaboration between the clinical staff and a Clinical Research Practitioner at Moorfields Eye Hospital. Patients attending the hospital for an eye procedure such as cataract or vitreoretinal surgery, will be approached by a Clinical Research Practitioner who has knowledge about the Moorfields Biobank and they will be able to answer any questions that the patient may have. They will assess the patient's ability to understand and retain the information provided in the Patient Information Sheet and if they believe the patient is appropriately informed they will ask the patient to sign the consent form.

The consent form is specific to the biobank but is broad in scope and enduring. The patient is asked to consent to their clinical notes, imaging data and tissue samples being accessible for approved research projects, or stored indefinitely and used in future projects that have not yet been planned. The donor is also asked to consent to the use of their anonymised data after their death. If the patient asks for any conditions to be placed on the use of their tissue, e.g. not to be used for genetic analysis, not to be used for animal research the patient will not be asked to sign the consent form.

We are very grateful to all those who have donated tissue to Moorfields Biobank, as these donations will help us to study the causes of blindness and other eye diseases, and help us to develop new treatments and procedures for the future.

Withdrawal of consent

Patients who donate tissue samples to the Moorfields Biobank are free to withdraw their consent at any time, without giving a reason, and this will not affect your treatment or legal rights in any way. Withdrawal of consent can be arranged by contacting Moorfields Biobank (contact details below). There is no time limit associated with withdrawal of consent and donors are free to withdraw their consent at any time. If consent is withdrawn, Moorfields Biobank will arrange for the appropriate disposal, where possible, of any samples still remaining

Contact details

If you would like further information regarding Moorfields Biobank or donating tissue for medical research, please contact Moorfields Biobank:

Information for researchers

If you are interested in finding out more about the collection of tissues currently held at Moorfields Biobank or would like access to ethically-approved tissue for eye-related research, please contact us by email at the address above. Applications will be reviewed by Moorfields Internal Ethics Committee within three weeks.

Researchers at the Institute of Ophthalmology can access the Moorfields Biobank intranet page (UCL log-in required).

Useful links

HTA License and SOPs

The UCL Institute of Ophthalmology has a HTA license that allows us to store ‘relevant’ human material for use in ethically approved research projects.

SOPs regarding the use of human material under our HTA licence are available below: