The Developmental Tissue Bank Core Facility – our offer
Whichever developing first trimester human organ or tissue you may need for your research, the Developmental Tissue Bank will help you. Our service includes acquiring and preparing the tissue, as well as support with ethical-regulatory aspects of using human prenatal tissue. If needed, we will arrange with transport to any Swedish university.
Services provided
Our core facility provides research groups with defined human embryonic and fetal tissue (“prenatal tissue”), derived from routine abortions, through a collaboration with various clinics.
After the tissue is transferred to the facility, we determine the developmental stage, identify the retrieved tissue, perform any necessary dissection, and process the tissue as agreed with the user.
The tissue collected can be delivered immediately to the user or stored for you in the tissue bank, which is a part of the Stockholm regional biobank (Stockholms Medicinska Biobank – SMB). Tissue delivered without prior treatment is usually kept in commercial hibernation medium, but depending on your preferences it can be kept in other cell media, RNAlater or other solutions. Tissue can also be fixed or snap-frozen in 2-methylbutane-dry ice. We usually freeze tissue in cryo molds with OCT or in RNAlater.
We can process your tissue for single cell genomics or transcriptomics, and deliver to the other KI core facilities for sequencing. Other procedures can also be arranged. We can also arrange with shipping to any Swedish university.
When tissue is intended for clinical purpose, we can prepare tissue in the cell and gene therapy facility Vecura (Karolinska University Hospital-Huddinge).
Photo documentation of the preparation of tissue can be provided as agreed.
Fees
Each user receiving tissue on a regular basis pays a fee per six months. Since we do not have control over the number of patients recruited, we charge half the standard fee for periods when we deliver tissue from less than eight cases per six months. For users requesting fewer samples, we apply a fee per sample.