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The Victorian Cancer Biobank is a not-for-profit consortium of tissue banks, supported by the Cancer Council Victoria and the Victorian Government.  Our overall aim is to provide researchers with high quality tissue samples and data in order to facilitate cancer research discoveries that will lead to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The Biobank provides biospecimens prepared from a collection of blood and tissue samples, taken with consent from healthy individuals and patients diagnosed with cancer. Some information about the health and treatment of the donors is also collected. The tissue that is collected following surgery is in  excess of what is required for diagnosis and would otherwise be discarded.

Academic and commercial sector researchers from within Australia or overseas can apply to the Biobank for biospecimens and information. Before biospecimens are provided to researchers, an impartial panel of scientists and doctors must agree that the project is scientifically worthwhile and a Human Research Ethics Committee must approve the project.

What's New

For the first time, Victorian public hospitals have digital imaging capabilities with the installation of the Aperio digital imaging system in the pathology departments at the four Biobank hub sites.  The Minister for Health, the Hon Daniel Andrews, launched the new equipment at Southern Health on 4 November and it is now up and running at Austin Health, Melbourne Health, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Southern Health.  Read more ...