Dermatology Bio-Specimen Bank

Westmead Oncodermatology is the result of the collaboration of the Department of Dermatology (DOD) at Westmead Hospital and the Skin & Cancer Foundation Australia (SCFA) at Westmead. Oncodermatology is a merge of the Oncology and Dermatology disciplines and works to improve management and research into cancers of the skin. The best source of information available to researchers and clinicians are from specimens of skin cancers which can be studied in order to elucidate mechanisms of development as well as new therapies. The DOD and SCFA have collaboratively begun a Bio-Specimen bank to collect and store skin cancer (including pre-malignant lesions) specimens and relevant associated clinical data (under human research ethics approval), for future research use. The aim is to build a research resource for scientists to access in order to perform investigations which may be translated into clinical benefit. The Dermatology Bio-Specimen bank is now certified under the NSW Health Biobank certification program, which aims to improve state-wide consistency, compliance with Australian regulations and guidelines, and to generally improve the quality of Biobanking in NSW. We are very pleased to be a part of this world-class program.
Written by Emily Fuller