Request tissues or fluids from the Biological Archive
Section A
Status or role of applicant
It is important for the Biological Archive to understand the role of the person requesting material. Sometimes we receive similar requests from 2 different researchers in the same project, especially within EU-funded programmes.
Section B
Funding bodies and time scales
If you are only at the proposal stage to receive funding, please record the status of the proposal. If the project has started, please indicate status of the project life cycle, including the source of funding.
Project technical details
The ‘supplementary information’ section of the request form seeks to understand the aims and objectives of the project, how the archived materials will be used, experimental techniques to be employed, relevance and feasibility of the research. This is essential if we are to ensure that the materials we supply are appropriate for your needs. In certain circumstances where scarce material is sought by competing researchers, the TSE NRL may seek to re-prioritise existing requests on the basis of the quality of research programmes.
Sampling protocols
Please specify if precise collection and processing protocols apply. Is the material required to be collected aseptically for transmission studies, is the time between death and freezing important, will the presence of sedatives or anaesthetics in blood interfere with your measurement technique? Please note: UK field case BSE suspect cattle availability is very limited.
Sample description
Samples held by the Biological Archive are categorised across a broad range of criteria, it is important that you specify precisely the description of your required samples.
For example, some researchers ask for ‘normal cow brain’, but this can mean any of the following:
derived from cattle maintained on a farm with no recorded history of exposure to BSE
derived from cattle presenting no clinical signs, but maintained on a farm with a BSE history
derived from cattle recorded as BSE suspects, but confirmed negative by IHC or WB
Please also specify which area of the brain you require, obex is not available as it is used for diagnoses.
Containment facilities
Confirm that suitable handling facilities (for example Category 3 laboratory for BSE material) are available for receipt of infected tissues or fluids.
Destination airport
The customer-nominated airport for receipt of the requested materials.
Release policy
The IAAG have a general policy for the release of tissues which includes guidelines for amounts of each tissue to be released to one researcher or research group.
This policy includes exceptions where tissues are rare or may be in high-demand and takes account of the current and future needs of the researcher whose experiment is supplying the tissues.
The Archive Head has delegated responsibility for release authority for a specified range of samples.
There may be intellectual property issues associated with the tissues, the protocol for the experiment and its results, all of which would need to be supplied along with the tissues to prove their provenance.