Frequently asked questions
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You / your child will be having samples taken in order to make a diagnosis of their illness or help to guide their treatment. We are asking that you allow us to take small additional samples at the same time for research. With your permission, we will also collect any surplus from the sample used for diagnosis.
The very best research into Children and Young People's cancer is carried out on samples from patients with the illness.
Only your / child’s clinical team and VIVO Biobank will know your identity. Researchers will not know any identifiable information about you / child. This means that we will not be able to tell you the results of the research projects that use your / child’s samples.
Our projects page has details of all the projects that have received VIVO Biobank samples and our publications page lists the scientific publications to come from them.
Your / your child's clinical team will talk to you about VIVO Biobank and invite you to donate samples. We have a range of age-appropriate information leaflets which explain everything you need to know about VIVO Biobank (your clinical team will give you copies to keep). If you decide to take part, you (and, optionally, your child) will sign a consent form and, at this point, you will choose whether you / your child will have some small additional samples taken or if you just want any samples left over from testing to be sent to VIVO Biobank.
No. If you decide that you do not want your / your child’s samples to be used for research then they will not be stored by VIVO Biobank. This won't affect your / your child's treatment in any way.
If you change your mind at any time and wish to withdraw consent you should contact VIVO Biobank who will ensure that all samples from you /your child in storage will be destroyed. However, if your / your child's samples have already been used for research at this time, we are unable to recall samples or medical information from researchers. VIVO Biobank will, however, arrange for any samples left over from projects is completed to be destroyed so they will not be used in any further research.
UK and international researchers are eligible to apply to use VIVO Biobank samples. Samples are only released to researchers after approval by VIVO Biobank's panel of experts.
Further information can be found in the ‘Information leaflets’.