Belgium

Brugmann – HUDERF Tumourbank Service (BruTuS)

BruTuS (or Brugmann Hospital Tumor bank Service) is located in the Pathology department of the CHU Brugmann in Northern Brussels. It is a repository of frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples collected from surgical specimens originating from Brugmann hospital and from the neighboring Children’s Hospital Reine Fabiola (HUDERF).In accordance with the activity of the two hospitals, breast and pediatric tumor samples are the most frequent in the biobank.

Key facts

Name of the connected EIT Health partner:
Number of individuals: More than 3000 tumour samples (number of patients not determined)
Biobank confirmed willingness to provide samples/data for EIT Health studies: Yes. BruTuS must always be aware of the aim of the study for which the samples are requested and the study needs the approval of a competent Ethics Committee for BruTuS to release any sample or data. BruTuS has a Human Material Transfer Agreement that must be signed and respected by the people requesting samples.
Contact person(s) and contact data
(e-mail address, tel. no) for access purposes:		 Maxime Lorent, maxime.lorent@chu-brugmann.be, +3224772839; Ruth Duttmann, ruth.duttmann@chu-brugmann.be, +3224773134
Number of samples:
Sample type: Tissue
Website: https://www.chu-brugmann.be/fr/med/anapath/tumor.asp
Website:

General information

Type of biobank: Residual/secondary use
If longitudinal the frequency:
Link to central portal to seek samples and data: https://virtualtumourbank.kankerregister.org/tumourbank.aspx?lang=TB_EN
Broad consent: No. BruTuS uses a non opposition form that the patient can fill when admitted into the hospital. If the patient does not fill the non opposition form, his samples are eligible to be used anonymously for scientific research
Option to recall donors: No
Option to recall family members: No

Biobank access procedure:

Major terms for access: Please see BruTuS Quality Manual here
Ethical and legal compliance: The project must have been approved by a competent Ethics Committee
Speed and reliability of delivery: BruTuS doesn’t provide a delivery service. Once the release of the samples has been approved and the samples have been anonymised, the requester is responsible for the proper transport of the samples.
Pricing: BruTuS is a non profit biobank but asks for a fee to compensate the costs of biobanking. The fee is aligned with the other biobanks of the BWB network

Quality management system:

Storage: The samples are collected durong the macroscopic examination of surgical specimens in the Pathology Department. Samples are snap frozen in liquid nitrogen then kept in a -80°C freezer or embedded in an OCT compound and frozen in cooled isopentane when possible. Other samples are formalin fixed and paraffin embedded (FFPE). Data is stored in the BVT (Belgian Virtual Tumourbank) catalog and additional data can be gathered from the patient’s hospital file when necessary.
Compliance with international standards: BruTuS is ISO 9001 certified. BruTuS tries to comply also to ISO 20387 (work in progress).
Current ISO certificates: ISO 9001, ISO 20387 (work in progress).

Data:

Clinical data linked to samples: Clinical data. Some clinical data can be anonymously collected from the patient’s hospital file if a competent Ethical Committee has approved it. BruTuS in part of the BVT (Belgian Virtual Tumourbank), BWB (Biothèque Wallonie Bruxelles) and BBMRI networks
Data standards: Data is structured according to the BVT catalog structure.
Data security rules: Access to the BVT catalog is managed by the Belgian Cancer Registry. BruTuS collaborators must use their ID card to have access to said catalog.

Biobank related service:

Research support, what type of expertise?: None
Core facility services; what type? Link?:
Queries from national health registers:
Links to the model contract and MTA:

IP:

IP rules, what is negotiable?: BruTuS respects the intellectual property of its partners, but must be well informed of the aims of a study before releasing samples.
Requirements to study results (access etc.):
Participant’s right to the information: BruTuS must be informed if any information regarding the health of a patient or the quality of the samples arises from a research conducted with material obtained from BruTuS.
Number of access contracts with industry: 0

COVID-19 samples:

Access to biological samples from patients with COVID-19?

  • Serum
  • Full blood (for RNA extraction)
  • EDTA-Full blood (for DNA extraction)
  • EDTA-Plasma
  • Citrate-Plasma
  • PBMC (Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells)
  • Nasopharyngeal aspirate
  • Tracheal aspirate
Contact person(s) and contact data (e-mail address, tel. no) for access purposes