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  • > What is the HTRC?
  • > The Human Tissue Act
  • > Tissue collection registration
  • > Access to a research tissue bank
  • > Current registered tissue banks
  • > Consent
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  • > Tissue Use Information Leaflet
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• Research Policies and Procedures (SOPs)

What is the HTRC?

The Human Tissue Act (2004), came into effect from 1 September 2006, and provides a legislative framework within which those who handle human tissues have to operate. The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) oversees implementation of the legislation and requires all organisations holding or banking tissues for research purposes, to register each collection or tissue bank with them.

The Human Tissue Resource Centre (HTRC)

To respond to the challenges that arose from the passage of this legislation, the Barts and The London NHS Trust (BLT) and Barts and The London, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry invested in the Human Tissue Resource Centre (HTRC) to assist in enabling existing local tissue banks to ensure compliance with the Human Tissue Act 2004 across all Human Tissue facilities and enhance the research infrastructure of the two organisations.

The idea of bringing together existing local tissue banks under one site based HTA licence was first conceptualised in 2004. Since then, much information gathering and planning has gone into the development of a Human Tissue Resource Centre.  

Aims and objectives

The HTRC aims to work with all those who are storing human tissue for research purposes, to adopt best practices for active and prospective human tissue storage, meet HTA licensing requirements, and standardise policies and procedures for tissue banking within the Trust and Medical School, train consent staff, monitor and audit satellite sites, and collate statistical data and trends. The HTRC will also have a role in harvesting surplus human tissue for research and passing it onto research groups within the local community and to external organisations. 

The HTRC will assist any Tissue Collection Centre (TCC) in reviewing existing practices and developing materials on patient consent and protocols for collecting, processing, storing and disposing human tissue for research, ensuring that the clinical governance guidelines and the Codes of Practice set out by the Human Tissue Authority are met.

More information

If you would like to know more about the HTRC and its plans, or if you have any general queries, you can e-mail the HTRC at htrc@bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk.

Download HTRC Organisational Structure 2010.

Download HTA Licences and TCCs.

How the HTRC can help researchers

Services

The Human Tissue Resource Centre is the share facility for BLT and QM, providing advice on the tissue collections within various specialties, and for the procurement, processing, storage and distribution of tissue for research.

The HTRC oversees the collection, storage and distribution of tissue for research from over 20 registered tissue collection centres. The HTRC also provides advice and coordinates audits to ensure compliance with the Human Tissue Authority licence.

• Information

The HTRC provides general advice on the collection, storage and use of tissue in research. As all tissues for storage and distribution for future research will be logged and tracked, and holdings monitored by the HTRC, there will be a facility to identify potential research samples. Requests for tissue for research may be referred on to the appropriate tissue collection centre that collects such samples.

• Tissue Procurement

The HTRC has been set up to obtain surplus tissues for research that are resected for medical purposes. The resources available for this task include a Biomedical Scientist who works with surgeons, researchers, and pathologists to process surplus tissue and maximise its scientific value. The HTRC can assist researchers in sourcing tissues for a specific research project. If there is any type of tissue we should be collecting to support research in your area, please contact us.

The HTRC is currently building an archive of paraffin blocks of normal tissue and tumours of all types collected from surplus surgical tissue.

Note: BLT will be obtaining generic consent for patient’s admitted for operations and treatments. Consent information will be kept by the HTRC and flagged on the centralised database.

• Histology

The HTRC processes and preserves tissues retrieved from surplus diagnostic materials in this Trust’s Histopathology Department. Our technical staff may also provide other services such as section cutting and staining.

• Tissue Banking

The HTRC collects surplus human tissue when available. There are a number of tissue collection centres within BLT and QM, together we store collect approximately 10,000 samples per year. The HTRC has the facility to store tissues for research in various methods including surplus tissues from specific research project which can be used in the future. See Access to a research tissue bank.

• Data Collection

The HTRC can provide relevant anonymised patient information with the tissue sample such as medical history, age of patient, diagnosis.

To request tissue from a Research Tissue Bank

The Human Tissue Resource Centre (HTRC) offers researchers within BLT and QM and its affiliates a resource to enhance research into disease processes and treatments. BLT and QM researchers have top priority for accessing our services. However, all researchers (academic or commercial) can request tissue from the tissue bank for research projects with ethical approval. Tissues will be made available for a nominal fee, which partially offsets the costs of collection, handling, preparing and storing the samples. Informed consent from donors is obtained through the tissue bank thereby freeing researchers from this process.

Requests for human tissue from tissue collections within BLT and QM must be submitted in writing from the research lead for each research study. Researchers must complete an Application Request for Human Tissue form and must understand and agree to the conditions stated in the Human Tissue Supply Agreement. The application is then reviewed to ensure that the project is one to which the HTRC should commit resources. Samples will only be released for projects that have had approval from the Tissue Custodian and the BLT Tissue Committee. Tissues will only be released to research studies with ethics approval.

For more information, and to obtain a copy of these forms, contact the HTRC on 020 346 55376 (internal – 15-55376) or email htrc@bartsandthelondon.nhs.uk.