Biorepository
The UK CF Infection Biorepository addresses a key challenge in CF antimicrobial discovery and development, which is the difficulty researchers face in accessing all the sample types they need for preclinical testing.
About the UK CF Infection Biorepository
The CF AMR Syndicate’s vision is to build and strengthen access to high quality clinically relevant samples, data and expertise. This will enable researchers from academia and industry to quickly identify and translate discoveries into new treatments for infections in people with cystic fibrosis. The Biorepository is a coordinated national network of UK labs, each with existing collections and capability:
Resources held by labs in the network include:
Reference strains and strain panels for common pathogens of the CF lung, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cepacia complex and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). These strains are of both CF and non-CF origin; they are typically well-characterised and linked with phenotypic data and whole-genome sequence.
Clinical isolates (bacterial and fungal strains isolated from the lungs of people with CF) from patients attending paediatric and adult CF centres across the UK. The isolates include Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cepacia complex, nontuberculous mycobacteria, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Achromobacter species, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp, Haemophilus Influenzae, Aspergillus species, Exophiala, Rasomsonia. Many of the clinical isolates are genome sequenced with clinical metadata associated. Isolates are available from both longitudinal studies and as multiple isolates from individual patients.
Sputum (frozen, whole) with associated clinical metadata.
Signposting to centres to support the prospective collection of sputum.
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, including combination testing in different formats and models.
UK CF Infection Biorepository is governed by a management team and receives ongoing strategic advice from an independent advisory committee.
Accessing Samples and Capability from the UK CF Infection Biorepository
The UK CF Infection Biorepository supplies samples and engages in collaborative projects with academic and industry researchers in the UK and abroad.
Submitted access requests are managed centrally by MDC, which coordinates the UK network of participating laboratories. Requests for samples, data and capability are reviewed, approved and fulfilled by the relevant laboratory in the network with terms dependent upon the nature of the request.
The Biorepository is generously supported by funding from
Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Antabio and The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
