Why does QUANTUM charge for samples?

QUANTUM is a new UK Biobank based in Oxford and as with most academic biobanks it is a non-profit organisation.  Although some initial funding has been secured to develop a trial-linked sample collection (from the John Black Charitable Foundation for the TRANSLATE Trial) with limited departmental resources to establish required staffing and infrastructure, in order to sustain the future of the biobank it will be necessary to recover costs from researchers for the supply of samples, services and data.  

We have looked closely at other models of cost recovery within research biobanks and have attempted to incorporate a model which is as fair as possible to researchers but allows us to plan for our sustainable future operation.   

Each year the QUANTUM Management Committee will review the resources available to the biobank (including any revenue generated from cost recovery) and plan a pricing proposal for the upcoming year.