Hello everyone,

Our institution is attempting to create a Tissue Resource for basic
science investigators who use human autopsy tissue for their
research.  I am writing with hopes that someone else has already
created this type of resource and can answer some questions for us.
Basically what we are doing is building on a Brain Bank concept that
is already in place here as part of our Alzheimer's Disease Center.
This Tissue Resource would in essence bank tissue (from consented
subjects who have donated tissue at autopsy) and distribute it to
investigators.  Investigators are required to submit their requests
in writing disclosing that they indeed have an IRB
approval/exemption, are funded to do the research etc.  An advisory
committee (members include an attorney, an IRB member, a pathologist
etc) reviews these requests and approves the distribution of the
tissue to the investigator.

As with most educational institutions these days, we have several
small biotech companies being started by investigators here.  We are
especially concerned about the issues surrounding the distribution of
tissue to a for profit entity, especially when any one particular
researcher could be conducting research using tissue in both their
academic lab and their for-profit lab.

Enough background I think..... here are the questions!

What legal documents do you have in place guaranteeing
confidentiality of the patient's and their families for both academic
and corporate research entities?

If the same researcher is part of an academic entity as well as a for
profit entity - how does your institution govern the distribution of
tissue to those two entities?  How does the investigator assure your
institution that no flow of tissue occurs between the two entities?

Please feel free to forward this message to someone in your
institution who can best answer these questions, if that person is
indeed not you.

Thank you!

Brenda Kavanaugh, Administrator
University of Rochester
Center for Aging and Developmental Biology
Nathan Shock Center on Aging
Alzheimer's Disease Center
601 Elmwood Ave., Box 645
Rochester, NY  14642
Phone:  (585) 273-1749
FAX:  (585) 506-1957
Email:  xxxxxx@urmc.rochester.edu

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