The UK Ethics Committee Authority (UKECA) have now made registration in the UKCRC Tissue Directory a condition of the Research Ethics Committee (REC) favorable opinion for research tissue banks (RTB).
The Research Ethics Committee favour collection of tissue for future research use by research tissue banks, however, there is an expectation that this tissue is made visible to the research community. The HRA are keen to maximise the re-use of samples and so will now expect a RTB to register their collections on the UKCRC Tissue Directory. Registration will also be a condition of the five-year renewal of the ethical opinion.
For more see the UKCRC website.