Wales Cancer Biobank

What Wales Cancer Biobank does

Wales Cancer Biobank (WCB) is a nonprofit biobank infrastructure operated under Cardiff University, which acts as Data Controller. Founded in 2005 by Dr Alison Parry-Jones alongside NHS Wales colleagues and rebranded from 'Wales Cancer Bank' to 'Wales Cancer Biobank' in 2020, WCB recruits patients with known or suspected cancer across Welsh NHS hospitals, takes informed consent (including via iPad-based digital consenting by research nurses embedded in surgical pathways), and collects, processes, and stores tissue and blood biosamples alongside anonymised clinical and molecular data. It operates under a Human Tissue Authority licence and the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research.

WCB's core technology stack comprises a 17,701-patient consented sample archive (tissue, blood, plasma) with associated clinical/molecular data; an Online Sample Search portal hosted at Swansea University; a 3-4 week Application Management System with three-year approval validity; in-house Tissue MicroArray construction (existing TMAs for prostate, breast, and head & neck cancers); a Zeiss AxioScan Z1 digital slide scanner with 0.11 µm/pixel resolution at 40x; and an NHS data linkage pipeline flowing diagnostic data from the All Wales Medical Genomics Service. Adjacent research services include bespoke collections, external project hosting under HTA licence, circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) test development with Illumina (500-gene panel), and extracellular vesicle biomarker research using AI/ML approaches.

WCB's go-to-market is a sales-led, formal application process: researchers set up free online accounts, search the archive, submit applications reviewed by an Applications Manager, and — upon approval — receive samples internationally with cost-recovery invoicing. Customers are cancer researchers (academic and clinical) globally, with NHS Wales, Cardiff University, Health and Care Research Wales, and the Welsh Government as core institutional partners, and a developing secondary segment of pharma/biotech/diagnostics industry users. Revenue is explicitly cost recovery, not commercial pricing, with core infrastructure funded through public Welsh Government and Cardiff University grants. Strategic positioning is reinforced by ISBER leadership roles and the 2024 ISBER Special Services Award.

Name

Wales Cancer Biobank

Legal name

Wales Cancer Biobank ( Cardiff University as Data Controller)

Website

https://walescancerbank.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Wales Cancer Biobank is a Cardiff University-governed, HTA-licensed nonprofit biobank that collects cancer biosamples and clinical data from Welsh patients and distributes them under a cost-recovery model to cancer researchers worldwide, with a 20-year archive of 17,701 consented patients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cancer Biobank Services

NAICS

Blood and Organ Banks (621991), Medical Laboratories (621511)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)

akta.pro primary industry

Cell & Tissue Banking (biobanking, cord blood/tissue) (HLAAAGAE)

Keywords

• Cancer biobank services
• Biosample collection
• Tissue banking
• Clinical data access
• Cancer research infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Cardiff

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Cost Recovery for Sample Supply: Researchers are invoiced a contribution towards cost recovery for samples supplied. This is a cost-recovery model rather than profit-generating pricing. Shipping arrangements and costs are arranged and met by the receiving researcher/group.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Wales Cancer Biobank collects, curates, and stores cancer biosamples (tissue, blood) and associated clinical and molecular data from consented Welsh patients, supplying anonymized samples to cancer researchers worldwide on a cost-recovery basis. Beyond its core archive, the biobank offers supporting research services including bespoke collections, hosting of external trial collections, tissue micro arrays, digital slide imaging, and ctDNA testing collaborations.

Product overview

Wales Cancer Biobank operates as a biobank infrastructure providing a portfolio of biosamples, data, and research services to the international cancer research community. The core offering is the Biobank Sample Archive—a collection of cancer tissue and blood samples with associated clinical data—accessed through an Online Sample Search portal. Surrounding the archive, WCB offers specialized services including Bespoke Collections for custom sample acquisition, Hosting Services for external projects, Tissue Micro Arrays for high-throughput analysis, Digital Slide Imaging using Zeiss technology, Application Management for sample access, Circulating Tumour DNA testing support, and Extracellular Vesicle biomarker research. The organization positions itself as an active partnership between patients, NHS, academia, and industry that integrates tissue donations with biological and clinical data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Biobank Sample Archive Collection, curation, and storage of cancer biosamples (tissue, blood) and associated clinical and molecular data, supplied anonymized to cancer researchers worldwide.
• Online Sample Search

Quantifiable outcome

• 17,701 patients consented to donate biosamples
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered strategic and core.

• Qatar BiobankstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2022International biobanking partner. Dr Alison Parry-Jones participated in panel discussion at WISH 2022 alongside Qatar Biobank director. Joint discussion on the essential role of biobanks in precision medicine.
• Velindre Cancer CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS cancer center in Wales, partner in sample collection and research collaboration. Jointly conducts studies such as the COVID-19 vaccine immunity research in cancer patients at weekend clinics.
• Public Health WalescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWelsh NHS body providing public health expertise and data linkage capabilities for the biobank's operations in Wales.
• Cardiff UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerData controller for the Wales Cancer Biobank project. Provides academic infrastructure, research expertise, and administrative headquarters at University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park.
• Health and Care Research WalescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWelsh Government body that funds and supports health and social care research in Wales, providing grants such as funding for ctDNA study expansion.
• Welsh GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment body that provides overarching support and funding framework for health research infrastructure in Wales.
• NHS WalescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Health Service in Wales, providing clinical infrastructure for sample collection through specific hospitals. WCB works with NHS to embed biobanking structures within NHS and academic infrastructures.
• ISBER (International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories)strategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal biobanking organization. WCB's Operations Director served as President Elect, Director-at-Large for Europe, Middle East and Africa. WCB staff participate in conferences and present research.
• All Wales Medical Genomics Service (AWMGS)coreTechnology or IntegrationNHS genomics service. WCB is establishing pipelines to flow diagnostic data from AWMGS. Collaboration on ctDNA testing development with Illumina for lung cancer diagnostics.
• National Imaging Academy WalescoreTechnology or IntegrationWCB is partnering with this academy to explore how radiological and other imaging data can be augmented to the sample archive to create truly multi-modal datasets.
• IlluminastrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerGenomics technology company. Collaborating with AWMGS and WCB to develop an 'in-house' ctDNA diagnostic test focusing on a 500 gene panel - the first in the UK.
• Swansea UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic research partner. Dr Jason Webber's research on extracellular vesicles for prostate cancer biomarkers uses WCB samples and clinical data.
• Wales Cancer Research CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWCRC is a major research organization in Wales focused on cancer. WCB staff attend and exhibit at the annual WCRC conference, supporting collaboration.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• UK Biobank: The UK's flagship population-scale biomedical biobank with 500,000+ participants. Directly comparable business model of accessing consented human biosamples with linked health data, but at vastly larger scale and a broader (non-cancer-only) remit, with substantial commercial access fees.
• BioBank Japan: One of the world's largest disease-focused biobanks, with DNA and serum samples from ~200,000 participants linked to detailed clinical and genomic data. Comparable mission of providing researchers with high-quality annotated biological samples, though at population-scale and focused on multiple disease areas.
• Mayo Clinic Biobank: Major US hospital-based biobank linked to electronic health records and a national clinical-research platform. Operates a comparable consent-and-distribute model for biosamples across multiple research domains; significantly larger and more diversified than WCB.

Direct peers

• Qatar Biobank: National-scale biobank collecting samples and health data from Qatar's population for translational research. Operates under a similar national-bioresource model with formal ethics and licensing regimes, and has an established 2022 WISH partnership with WCB; a comparable international peer in scope.
• Cancer Research UK Biobank (Manchester): National cancer-focused biobank operated through the Manchester Cancer Research Centre. Closely matches WCB's cancer-specific scope, formal sample-access process, NHS embedding, and academic-partnership model, making it the most like-for-like cancer biobank peer in the UK.
• NIHR BioResource: UK research infrastructure program providing researchers access to consented volunteers' samples and health data for translational and clinical studies. Comparable operating model (cost-recovery, NHS-linked, formal application process) and similar public-funding framework, though with broader-disease focus rather than cancer-specific.

Regional players

• Karolinska Institutet Biobank: Large European academic biobank embedded in a leading medical university, providing consented human biosamples with linked clinical data to international researchers. Comparable academic-hospital governance and international sample-distribution framework, though Sweden-based.
• Biobank Graz: Austria's leading academic biobank and one of Europe's largest certified biobank facilities, providing biosamples for translational research under ISO-compliant quality systems. Comparable infrastructure-quality, clinical-data integration, and international sample-distribution activities; geographically distinct from Wales.

Emerging players

• Vanderbilt BioVU Biobank: Hospital-embedded DNA biobank linking de-identified patient samples to electronic health records for pharmacogenomics research. Comparable consent-based, hospital-embedded, data-linked biosample model for translational research, narrower in genetic focus.

Others

• European Rare Disease Cohorts (BBMRI-ERIC): Pan-European research infrastructure federating national biobanks to provide researchers with cross-border access to samples and data. Not a single biobank but rather the network in which WCB-like national biobanks participate; provides ecosystem-level comparability and partnership context.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights8 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/walescancerbank
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCtzbTXmr--nsVmB8aOEzz6w
• Facebookfacebook.com/thewalescancerbank
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wales-cancer-bank

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wales Cancer Biobank