Tissue Bank

Despite the huge sums spent on cancer research, cancer remains a leading cause of death and its treatment involves very substantial (and growing) expenditure in every country.

The Gillies McIndoe Research Institute tissue bank, established in its present form in January 2013, makes the team’s research much more efficient which, in turn, will ultimately lead to more effective future treatments for patients.

Our tissue bank has over 3,000 tissue and blood samples, including those relating to vascular birthmarks, fibrotic conditions and cancer. The samples have been collected by clinicians after obtaining consent from patients or their families.

We have ethical approval to collect tissue and blood samples from patients treated in a number of different surgical specialities in Hutt Hospital, Wellington Regional Hospital and Boulcott Hospital.

To ensure we use the tissues in a responsible and ethical manner, the tissue bank is overseen by a Governance Committee.

All tissues have been kindly donated by patients and are stored carefully and securely. The main benefit of an on-site tissue bank is that it provides readily available specimens that facilitate new research projects approved by the Human Health and Disability Ethics Committee.