The Chernobyl Tissue Bank Project

The Chernobyl Tissue Bank (CTB) is a research tissue bank that was established to collect, document, store, and issue to bona fide researchers, biological samples donated by patients with thyroid tumours who live in the areas of Ukraine and Russia close to the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The Foundation provided operational support to the CTB.

It began operating from Imperial College London, UK, in collaboration with international organisations such as the European Commission (EC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA and the governments of the three countries concerned (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus). Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, their value has been reaffirmed due to growing concern about the health risks posed by radiation.