We are very grateful to all participants who donate to our vital work
The donation of tissue, blood and health information to the Victorian Cancer Biobank is a gift and we are very grateful to all participants who generously support our work.
Participant Engagement and VCB Participant Information and Consent Forms (PICF)
The VCB collaborates with our partners to engage with participants. If you would like more information about the VCB or if you are interested in participating, please contact us. We can arrange for a representative to discuss our detailed Participant Information Sheet with you or to assist you with the completion of our Participant Consent Form.
Monash Health Tissue Bank – PICF
Frequently Asked Questions
Participants who wish to know more information about biobanking and participation may refer to our VCB Frequently Asked Questions page, or contact one of the VCB team.
Ethics
The VCB is committed to ensuring that the collection of research biospecimens does not interfere with patient care and that the privacy and confidentiality of all volunteer donors are maintained.
Informed consent for tissue collection and research use is obtained from all patients. The VCB and participating healthcare institutions comply with all existing Australian federal, state, territory and institutional requirements pertaining to the participation of patients in research, as well as the collection and use of research biospecimens and accompanying clinical data.
Collection of research biospecimens and associated clinical data has been approved by the research ethics committees at participating healthcare institutions. All research applications for biospecimens and clinical data must be accompanied by research ethics approvals of the research study and are subject to further review and approval by the internal VCB Access Committee.
All biospecimens and associated clinical data are de-identified so that a patient’s identity is accessible only to VCB authorised staff.
The VCB is a critical infrastructure that provides vital resources for researchers to improve cancer outcomes, and we’re proud to support their pioneering work to change and save lives – it’s innovations like these that demonstrate why the Victorian Government’s investment in medical research is so critically important.
Honorary Ben Carroll, Minister for Medical Research
Victorian Government
The support provided by the VCB, which included recruitment and provision of high-quality blood samples from donor participants, was instrumental for the foundational biomarker discovery and development work that we undertook at CSIRO, which has been critical for commercial success.
Dr Kim Fung, Principal Research Scientist
CSIRO
The support provided by the VCB, its staff, and its network of hospitals, and in particular the generosity of its sample donors, have all been critical in enabling the great progress that our company has made in developing a new, simple, blood-based diagnostic test for the early detection of colorectal cancer and our other target cancers.”
Dr Trevor Lockett, Technical Director
Rhythm Biosciences