Information about the biomaterial bank
This page is intended to provide information to patients whose samples are or are to be stored in the biobank. Biomaterials are collected through the clinic or in studies.
Test persons and patients do not report directly to the biobank.
Biobank is the short form of biomaterial bank, but what exactly is behind it? Important topics such as patient information, data protection and right of withdrawal are also explained.
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Biobank - What is it?
Human biomaterial banks (short biobanks) are collections of human body substances, such as blood, DNA, urine, CSF or tissue, which are linked to donor-specific information. This allows the investigation of diseases and the underlying (molecular) changes and offers the opportunity for development of targeted therapy forms ("personalised medicine").
The material of the clinical biobanks comes from samples taken for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes from patients or obtained from studies. For their use in research, the consent of the patient is always required.
By combining already existing biobanks of the Charité and the prospective collection at the three clinic sites, a large collection of different biomaterials and related data is being created with the aim of improving the quality and efficiency of research work and accelerating the transfer and transfer of knowledge.
Patient information
The samples and data of the ZeBanC are a crucial basis for research projects to discover the causes of disease. The understanding of diseases opens up new, targeted therapeutic possibilities, which can cause considerably fewer undesirable side effects.
The approval of a patient for the introduction of samples into the ZeBanC is not associated with any direct benefit for one's own health.Tissue samples taken from patients in the context of diagnostic or therapeutic measures are only transferred to the ZeBanC after completion of the medical procedures. No additional tissue samples have to be taken!
However, in some cases a small amount of blood are taken for the ZeBanC. The withdrawal of this blood sample is to take place parallel to a medically required blood sampling, so that no additional stress is created for patients.
Right of withdrawal
Patients or donors have the right to withdraw their consent on sample and data usage by the ZeBanC and associated research projects at any time. A withdrawal will under no circumstance influence the patient's medical care.
Data security
Within the ZeBanC only very few data will be saved. The medical data of the samples remain in the intended central Charité IT systems. Only in cases of research requests the data of the ZeBanC will be temporarily linked to the hospital information system.
However, this connection will not be carried out via patient name, but using a so called "pseudonym" that will not allow a direct re-identification inside the ZeBanC.