Establishment of a cord blood bank for BABY (Born And Bred in Yorkshire)

Overview

The purpose of this project was to establish a bank of bloods collected from the umbilical cords of babies from the BABY (Born and Bred in Yorkshire) study when they are born. These blood samples, together with information being collected from parents and maternity records, will help provide the foundation of a valuable resource for cross-disciplinary research on how individuals’ genes interact with their lifestyles and health. This information will be of value to the NHS and other researchers, now and in the future.

One of the outcomes of the project has been the establishment of a new collaboration with the technology facility located in the Department of Biology where the samples are being stored. Thus far blood samples have been obtained on over 400 children and it is anticipated that a further 1500 will be collected as part of BABY. A new laboratory information management system has been developed which links all samples back to the main BABY database. This system can be used remotely both by those collecting the samples (e.g. NHS) as well as those processing the samples (Biology) and enables all samples to be fully tracked both with respect to their location and their use (e.g number of freeze thaw cycles). It has inbuilt reporting systems to allow researchers to obtain information about the number and type of sample which will be of clear benefit in the future. Furthermore, it has also been designed to allow inclusion of samples for future studies for example those from parents and siblings.

In addition to developing the database, guidelines have been developed for access to the biological samples as well as the associated paperwork to be completed by researchers requesting access.