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UZ/KU Leuven biobank

The UZ/KU Leuven Biobank acts as the sole notified biobank of the Leuven Health Science Campus. As a result, any scientific research which includes the collection, storage and/or use of HBM at the Leuven Health Science Campus has to be a.o. approved by and registered with this Biobank.

Scope of HBM as defined by the biobank law

Definition

Human Bodily Material (HBM) is defined by law as any biological material, including human tissues and cells, gametes, embryos, fetuses, as well as the substances derived thereof, regardless of their degree of processing/transformation (DNA, RNA, proteins, …).

Obtention/use

Obtaining /use of HBM within the scope of scientific research may take various forms, each with their own specificities which can be classified based in their consent type.

Registry

An important aspect of the human bodily material law is the traceability of the HBM and its derivatives. Therefore, all HBM that is part of the UZ/KU Leuven biobank has to be documented within its registry.

Storage & Access

The storage facilities of the biobank are centralized at the second floor of the O&N4 building on campus Gasthuisberg. Within this facility a variety of sample storage solutions is available.

Legacy

HBM collected prior to 01 November 2018 and still stored with the intention of being used for scientific research (in the near or distant future) falls within scope of the biobank legislation.

Assessment of the study protocol

All scientific research that includes the procurement and/or use of HBM, regardless of the origin, type of material, use of the biospecimens and destination of the samples, requires to have biobank approval prior to the start of the research. 

To obtain this approval, an application must be submitted to the UZ/KU Leuven biobank as soon as the study is registered (i.e. S-number available) at the UZ Leuven clinical trial center. The approval of the biobank for the provision of the HBM is a mandatory element for a dossier to be admissible to the ethics committee research UZ / KU Leuven.

Submitting a study

Each provision of HBM by the biobank is the subject of a written agreement between the biobank and the person or institution receiving the material.

Study evaluation process

As soon as the submitted dossier is declared admissible the evaluation by the biobank will be initiated. Within this evaluation process, a distinction is made based on whether the study includes primary use of HBM or secondary use of HBM.

About us

Biobank resources

All biobank related documents, forms and links to useful resources.

Mission, policy and history

Read more about the mission, policy en history of the biobank.

Address

UZ Leuven gasthuisberg campus
UZ/KU Leuven Biobank
Herestraat 49
3000 Leuven
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Last edit: 26 March 2024