An estimated 80 million people are affected by blood disorders in the UK and EU.
In healthy people, blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to all parts of our bodies. This helps to keep us free of infections and bleeding and quietly plays an enormous part in enabling us to live full, normal lives. However, when our bone marrow or blood cells don’t work as they should, we develop blood disorders.
Syncona and UCL have partnered to develop a transformative new resource
The UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOS ICH) together with its clinical partner Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) form the largest concentration of children's health research in Europe. GOSH is one of the world’s premier centres for treatment of a broad range of rare and complex blood disorders across age groups, from newborn babies to teenagers. These early life disorders and cancers are more often related to developmental problems when compared to those in adults, in which ageing is a common factor.
Research into children and young people’s blood disorders, including some of the most complex, has in part been hampered because of limitations in the quality and quantity of existing patient data.
To address this challenge, Syncona is supporting The Childhood Blood Disorder Research Platform, an initiative led by academics at the UCL GOS ICH in close partnership with the haematology department at GOSH. The platform incorporates a comprehensive, state-of-the-art sample biobank – a curated repository of biological samples such as blood and bone marrow for use in medical research – and advanced clinical annotation facilitated by the GOSH electronic patient record to support research which improves our understanding of the mechanisms behind blood disorders in children.
This resource will be one of the first to combine multiple types of analysis and advanced sequencing techniques in one place, offering unparalleled depth and breadth of patient samples and clinical annotation. By working in close collaboration and capitalising on advances in analytical technology, our researchers have the potential to understand and treat childhood blood disorders like never before.
With the help of donors like Syncona, UCL is making that happen.
Find out more here.
“This fantastic resource, made possible with support from Syncona, is enabling us to collect and analyse valuable patient samples that would otherwise be disposed of. This is a vital step towards unlocking the kinds of discoveries that will enable us to make breakthroughs in paediatric blood disorder research and produce real impact for patients and their families, now and in the future.”