Welcome to the Penn Medicine BioBank

The Penn Medicine BioBank (PMBB) is a research program created to study the causes and treatments of many diseases. Any Penn Medicine patient (age 18 and up) can sign up. The PMBB is a collection of biological samples, such as blood or tissue, that are donated by patient volunteers. These samples are then connected to clinical information, such as diseases or lab measures. These data are then used by researchers to discover new ways to detect, treat, and maybe even prevent or cure disease. Some of these studies may be about how genes affect health and disease. Other studies look at how genes affect response to medicines.

During your visit to Penn Medicine, you may be invited to participate in the Penn Medicine BioBank. If you join, you allow for access to your clinical information. You may also donate a blood sample that is collected during your clinic visit. Your donation will enable groundbreaking discoveries in medicine that can improve patients’ lives. Participation is completely voluntary and may help future generations.

Participation is completely voluntary and involves just a few steps:

  1. Sign a consent form to agree to participate.
  2. Donate your sample. Donation is quick and easy and can be done while you are here at Penn Medicine for a clinic visit. This usually involves drawing a sample of blood from a vein in your arm. It may also include collecting saliva or urine samples. It could also include allowing us to use any leftover samples, like blood or tissue, that doctors have removed during a medical procedure. This would only be done when the sample is no longer needed for your care.
  3. Allow our BioBank team to obtain and use clinical information from your medical record for research purposes.
  4. You may be asked to complete a brief survey about your health history and lifestyle.
  5. Your privacy is very important to us and we will make every effort to protect it. Your name and other direct identifiers will be removed from your sample and replaced with a code number that only select personnel can access.