Manchester Allergy, Respiratory & Thoracic Surgery Biobank: against COVID-19 ^Laboratory

The tissue bank was established in 2010 under the name Manchester Respiratory and Allergy Biobank (ManRAB). In order to encompass the collection of resected lung tissue, the name has been changed to Manchester Allergy, Respiratory and Thoracic Surgery (ManARTS) Biobank as part of the ethics renewal. The aim of the tissue bank is to collect biological samples and data from patients with respiratory and allergic diseases and other related conditions, from patients undergoing thoracic surgery and from healthy (adult) volunteers.

The Manchester Allergy, Respiratory and Thoracic Surgery (ManARTS) Biobank has made an amendment due to Covid-19. Adults and children up to 16 years of age will be invited to take part (but for asthma, children must be at least 3 years of age unless they have been diagnosed with asthma by a paediatrician). Clinical trial patients (or subjects who volunteered to participate in a clinical trials but were not eligible) will also be eligible to take part (providing the volume of blood taken from subjects on existing clinical trials will not exceed 465ml in a 3 month period). Subjects must be capable of giving written informed consent/ parental consent.