How researchers can use the HDBR
If you are a researcher interested in using embryonic or fetal tissue from the HDBR in developmental research, the steps are:
Register your project with the HDBR. You can download a registration form via the Registration Form page or by emailing the Resource Manager at hdbr@ncl.ac.uk or hdbr@ich.ucl.ac.uk. To ensure that tissue samples are used with the maximum effectiveness, potential recipients of material from the HDBR need to provide information on how that material is to be used and to agree to a number of conditions. The registration form includes a 100 to 200-word summary of the background to the proposed project and what you expect to achieve using the embryonic tissue.
Your registration and request for access to tissue will first be considered by a local committee at either the London or Newcastle centres. All registrations are then reviewed at a biannual joint steering committee meeting of the HDBR.
You must also obtain ethical approval for use of the tissue from your research institution and supply documentary evidence of this to the Resource Manager before material can be released to you.
Requests to use the In Situ Hybridisation Service can be made at the same time as registration or at anytime during a project.
Priority research areas
The HDBR joint steering committee has decided that the material is to be made available for gene expression studies and for cell culture work. Within gene expression studies, priority will be given to work on the following areas:
A known disease gene that is likely to have an informative expression pattern. Genes that are expected to have ubiquitous or widespread expression cannot be expected to have high priority.
Genes that are expected to be important in early development and whose expression patterns might be informative. For example, genes that produce interesting and relevant phenotypes in model organisms, but are not known to be disease genes.
Genes that can be expected to be important in human- or primate-specific functions, such as cognitive function, language, etc.
Genes that have been shown to be associated with significant anatomical, or functional, differences between mice and humans.