Rules and guidelines for the Tissue Bank
Scientific research on patient residual material has to comply with strict rules and regulations.
Ethics and Law
The tissue collection of the Erasmus MC tissue bank consists ofleft-over tissues or residual-tissues, which originate from surgical resectionspecimen presented at the department of Pathology for diagnostic purposes.However, in most cases not all tissue is needed for diagnostic purposes. Theresidual tissue is of immense value for medical translational science,especially if it is accompanied by the proper diagnosis.
Since the collection of the bank consists of human residual-tissues originatingfrom patients strict rules need to be followed not to violate the patients’privacy and authority. Therefore, scientific research on patient residualmaterial has to comply with strict rules and regulations. The rules andregulations are described by. The Dutch Federation of Medical ScientificSocieties (FMWV) has described these rules and regulations in the “Code ProperSecondary Use of Human Tissue".
Moreover, extra care must be taken for the anonymity for the scientists by keycoding of the database of the Tissue Bank, which can be searched for the availability of the tissue samples.
Issue of Tissue
Tissue samples can be selected and requested for scientific medical researchonly if the following conditions are met. You must be:
1. Employed as a researcher by the Erasmus MC or cooperate with one.
2. Familiar with the Code Proper Secondary Use ofHuman Tissue developed by the FMWV
3. Able to give an exact description of allplanned experiments involving the tissue samples
4. Aware the planned experiments need to be of sufficient quality to spend the valuable tissue samples on (to be decided by the TissueBank committee)
5. Sufficient in expertise to perform the planned experiments
6. Granted permission by the Medical Ethics Commission METC to execute the planned experiments.
If all above terms are met and the patient has not objected to the use of theirtissues for experimental use, the tissue samples can be transferred bysignature of a transfer agreement. After the experiments have been performedthe tissues have to be returned to the Erasmus MC tissue bank.
Patients can get information on this issue by reading the patient informationbrochure (Dutch) on the use of residual tissue for medical research in Erasmus MC and only if they want to object, fill out the corresponding form (Dutch) to object.
Researchers interested in the use of fresh frozen tissue samples can contactthe head of the Erasmus MC Virtual Tissue Bank: Dr. P. Riegman by e-mail,
For purposes of budgeting project proposals involving tissue samples, the costsper tissue sample are to be calculated at € 250,- including standard samplecollection, storage, administration and retrieval. These costs do not includethe development of infrastructure, redundantly stored tissues, development ofnew collection strategies, inclusion of older collections and organization innetworks.
Tissue request protocols are of course also subject to these rules.
The tissue collection of the Erasmus MC tissue bank consists ofleft-over tissues or residual-tissues, which originate from surgical resectionspecimen presented at the department of Pathology for diagnostic purposes.However, in most cases not all tissue is needed for diagnostic purposes. Theresidual tissue is of immense value for medical translational science,especially if it is accompanied by the proper diagnosis.
Since the collection of the bank consists of human residual-tissues originatingfrom patients strict rules need to be followed not to violate the patients’privacy and authority. Therefore, scientific research on patient residualmaterial has to comply with strict rules and regulations. The rules andregulations are described by. The Dutch Federation of Medical ScientificSocieties (FMWV) has described these rules and regulations in the “Code ProperSecondary Use of Human Tissue".
Moreover, extra care must be taken for the anonymity for the scientists by keycoding of the database of the Tissue Bank, which can be searched for the availability of the tissue samples.
Issue of Tissue
Tissue samples can be selected and requested for scientific medical researchonly if the following conditions are met. You must be:
1. Employed as a researcher by the Erasmus MC or cooperate with one.
2. Familiar with the Code Proper Secondary Use ofHuman Tissue developed by the FMWV
3. Able to give an exact description of allplanned experiments involving the tissue samples
4. Aware the planned experiments need to be of sufficient quality to spend the valuable tissue samples on (to be decided by the TissueBank committee)
5. Sufficient in expertise to perform the planned experiments
6. Granted permission by the Medical Ethics Commission METC to execute the planned experiments.
If all above terms are met and the patient has not objected to the use of theirtissues for experimental use, the tissue samples can be transferred bysignature of a transfer agreement. After the experiments have been performedthe tissues have to be returned to the Erasmus MC tissue bank.
Patients can get information on this issue by reading the patient informationbrochure (Dutch) on the use of residual tissue for medical research in Erasmus MC and only if they want to object, fill out the corresponding form (Dutch) to object.
Researchers interested in the use of fresh frozen tissue samples can contactthe head of the Erasmus MC Virtual Tissue Bank: Dr. P. Riegman by e-mail,
For purposes of budgeting project proposals involving tissue samples, the costsper tissue sample are to be calculated at € 250,- including standard samplecollection, storage, administration and retrieval. These costs do not includethe development of infrastructure, redundantly stored tissues, development ofnew collection strategies, inclusion of older collections and organization innetworks.
Tissue request protocols are of course also subject to these rules.