Information for Researchers

The Tayside Biorepository (TBR) makes available a wide variety of matched normal and diseased tissue (primarily tumour material), as well as blood samples, for the purposes of medical research. The TTB is also able to provide histological, immunocytochemical, molecular, LMD and tissue microarray (TMA) services to investigators. (See Service Requests). Importantly the Bank also governs access to samples from the local NHS Pathology archive. Authorisation to examine H&E slides or to obtain sections from Formalin Fixed paraffin Embedded (FFPE) blocks for research purposes should be routed through the TTB Tissue Request system.




Quality Assurance and Ethical Approval



Quality Matters

The Tayside Biorepository seeks to provide high quality samples of human tissue for medical research and to operate in accordance with accepted ‘best practice’. Tissue samples are snap frozen in Liquid Nitrogen as soon as possible after collection in order to preserve them in the best possible condition and keep ischaemic time to a minimum. This helps promote the quality of e.g. the RNA that is recoverable from the samples. Subsequently the samples are divided between two separate, continuously monitored ULT freezers and stored at -80℃ . The Bank is subject to regular internal audits by an independent Quality Assurance Manager and has achieved Accreditation status under the recently introduced Health Improvement Scotland / Chief Scientist Office scheme. The Bank maintains active links with national bodies such as the Confederation of Cancer Biobanks and contributes to policy making on biorepository standardisation and harmonisation.

Ethical Approval

The Tayside Biorepository (TBR) holds approval from the Local Research Ethics Committee (LREC) to provide data and samples to researchers who satisfy the TBR Access Committee that their application is both ethically and scientifically appropriate. Occasionally, for certain projects the TBR Access Committee may require that researchers seek formal ethics committee approval before sanctioning their request for tissue or data.

If you require a copy of the approval letter from the Local Research Ethics Committee (LREC) giving Tayside Biorepository generic (i.e. delegated) ethical authorisation (e.g. for grant applications) please contact the Bank to request this.