Cambridge Blood and Stem Cell Biobank (CBSB)

A single biobank in Cambridge will store thousands of blood and stem cell samples donated by patients, making them available for research into blood disorders, stem cell diseases, and normal developmental processes like haematopoiesis. This matters because many research projects collect valuable patient samples but lack the infrastructure to share them beyond the original study team. Without a centralised biobank, those samples often sit unused, limiting the pace of discovery. The Cambridge Blood and Stem Cell Biobank (CBSB) solves that problem by creating a permanent, ethically governed repository. Donors have consented to their anonymised samples and data being used for approved research into the same kinds of conditions they originally agreed to. If the biobank succeeds, it will accelerate research into leukaemia, bone marrow failure, and other blood or stem cell disorders. Researchers outside the original study can apply for access, provided they have ethics approval and comply with the biobank’s access policy. The biobank will publicly report which samples go to which projects, ensuring transparency. This is infrastructure research—it does not itself make discoveries, but it quietly enables the discoveries that improve treatments for patients with blood and stem cell diseases.