About us

State of the art tissue bank

Our tissue bank at Speke, near Liverpool ranks amongst the best in the world and includes:

A National Referral Centre

Our team of specialist nurses receive donor referrals and discuss the donation options with potential donor families. They also complete the consent and donor screening process to allow assessment of the donor in compliance with UK legislation and European Directives.

An operating theatre standard tissue retrieval suite

Where tissues can be obtained to the highest possible standards.

14 cleanrooms

All capable of operating to class B air quality, and 27 class II microbiological safety cabinets operating at class A standard. All clean rooms and cabinets have continuous air particle monitoring technology.

50 ultra low temperature freezers

For tissue storage, and a cryopreservation suite for long term banking of viable grafts in vapour phase liquid nitrogen.

Research and Development

Supported by numerous universities within the UK.

A tissue development laboratory 

Together with a GMP (good manufacturing practice) Technology Transfer Centre, which completes the chain from novel idea to novel tissue graft. The laboratory is fully equipped to exploit developments in cell culture and tissue engineering and deliver advantages from these technologies to patients.

An infrastructure that supports tissues and blood banking functions

This includes a Quality Assurance department, who conduct regular GMP audits, and who provide a final and independent inspection and sign off of all grafts and processes. The on-site medical staff are expert in donor selection and testing and provide medical oversight of all tissue donors.

High level of security

Different levels of security access are used for areas of higher sensitivity.

Sophisticated environmental monitoring system

All critical physical parameters within the facility are continuously monitored to ensure that tissues are stored and handled appropriately. This includes monitoring of particle levels in clean rooms, tissue storage temperatures, and many other important criteria.

A Consultant Specialist in Tissue and Eye Services supported by a Clinical Team

To develop clinical policy and input into all aspects of tissue services. This includes the development of surgeon user and focus groups to ensure the efficacy and clinical relevance of our products and services. Recent initiatives include development and implementation.

Highly trained dedicated doctors, scientists, technicians, nurses, and all levels of support staff

This combination of a motivated professional workforce within a state-of-the-art facility ensures our commitment to safety, quality and efficacy of all our tissue grafts.

More about our tissue bank