Skip to main content

Wessex Investigational Sciences Hub (WISH)

The WISH laboratory provides bespoke translational research services to regulatory standards.

It is a collaborative venture between University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Southampton, established to meet the needs of industry partners.

It is located within hospital and integrated with the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility. This enables us to access samples from patients, with their consent, and puts us right at the interface between research and treatment. In this way, we are perfectly positioned to see translational studies through from basic research to clinical trials.

Quality assurance

We work to the regulatory standards required for the analysis of samples from clinical trials. We also meet the standards for academic studies and analytical services. Quality assurance is integrated with that in the NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility, underscoring our commitment to the highest standards in early phase research.

We are fully GCP compliant, with quality management systems in place to maintain quality assurance, quality control, method validation, data integrity and documentation. This focus on quality and exacting standards has given our commercial partners the confidence in early phase data needed to progress development without recourse to validation studies.

Our services

We are experienced in delivering innovative healthcare solutions for investigative assessment of tissue and blood samples from consenting patients, both for clinical trials and academic studies. 

We use the combination of our broad expertise and state of the art facilities to deliver a package tailored to your research. Covering a wide range of specialties, we provide a stratified medicine service incorporating analytical platforms in immunology, cancer immunotherapy, molecular microbiology, genetics and genomics, and nutritional science.

Personalised quotations are generated dependent upon the techniques and regulatory or validation requirements. We also welcome collaborative ventures. Please contact us to discuss your specific requirements and pricing.

Sequencing: Our Next Generation Sequencer enables you to conduct large scale and efficient genomics, epigenomics and transcriptomics studies. You can see examples of how this has been used in our 100,000 Genome Project and clinical exome partnerships. For more focused applications, we have the MiSeq desktop sequencer, which is ideal for targeted gene sequencing, metagenomics, targeted gene expression, amplicon sequencing and HLA typing.

FACS and analyte profiling: Our FACSCanto and FACSAria machines allow you to use flow cytometry and cell sorting to analyse the cytometric properties of your samples. In addition, our Luminex Multianalyte System enables simultaneous quantification of multiple analytes in a single sample.

Immunoassays: We have the facilities to conduct ELISA immunoassays, with established experience in validated anti-drug antibody (ADA) assays for first-in-man phase I clinical trials. In addition, we have provision for the more specialised ELISPOT assay to analyse and quantify antibody-secreting and cytokine-producing immune cells, enabling you to monitor cellular immune responses.

Clinical chemistry: Our Thermo Konelab 20 analyser allows you to conduct a wide range of clinical chemistry tests. In addition, we can provide high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) services to separate, identify & quantify various components in blood, urine and other biological samples.

Cell culture: We provide the facilities and services for cell culture, including PBMC culture, as well as tissue dissociation to enable primary culture of solid samples.

Physiology: We have an Oroboros O2K high resolution respirometer for measuring the mitochondrial function of cell or tissue samples.

Meeting your needs

The WISH lab offers high quality services to investigators on a fee-for-service basis. We also welcome collaborative ventures - please contact us to discuss your specific requirements.

We have two main categories of services:

  1. Full service – we provide a bespoke package of services to fit your requirements, conducted from start to finish by our experienced team
  2. Self service – conduct your own studies in a QMS environment, with your team using our equipment and facilities, benefiting from our training and support

We provide services for the delivery of translational research requiring regulatory compliance, ideally suited to research teams looking to conduct early stage clinical trials.

We are also proficient in introducing novel technologies, and in providing expert regulatory guidance for the application of these new technologies within the clinical translational research regulatory framework.

Our partnerships

The strength of the WISH lab lies in its partnerships with academia and industry. We work with others to conduct cutting edge research and develop new treatments for patients, whether that be as a leading contributor to the national 100,000 Genome Project or as trusted partner to companies such as AstraZeneca, with whom we are investigating new ways to tackle acute exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Working in the WISH lab on the Clinical Exome Pilot has been a really positive experience. The lab is modern and well equipped, and the interactions are diverse and enthusiastic. With a growing range of initiatives from both clinical and research there is a real buzz about the burgeoning genomics community.