BioGrad, a company offering medical and scientific support for education and research organisations, is to open the UK’s second largest biobank facility in Liverpool, as part of a £7.6m investment into a new headquarters at Wavertree Technology Park.
In collaboration with the University of Leicester, BioGrad biobank has already welcomed up to 261,000 samples from the largest long-Covid study in the UK. Further partnerships with Liverpool Women’s Hospital and three private research companies will see BioGrad bank over one million human cell samples banked in its first year.
Biobanking is the process of preserving human tissue, either for research issues (such as Covid and long-term Covid studies) or for human application (taking cells out of a patient and putting them back in). This will allow BioGrad to take stem cells out of patients to store them for therapeutic use for other patients.
The investment has also seen 40 members of existing staff upskilled and promoted into new roles at the new headquarters and the existing location at Liverpool Science Park.
Dr Natalie Kenny, CEO, BioGrad, said: “Our incredible new headquarters, which will house the second largest biobank facility in the UK, represents an exciting new era for BioGrad as we move into stem cell and regenerative medicine research, alongside our continued education operations. It also demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the levelling up agenda – providing an open access biobank for the Liverpool City Region and North West, creating new jobs and opportunities in the sector, and in particular, supporting local, female-led businesses.”
