Challenges for the Sustainability of University-Run Biobanks.

Most university biobanks begin like other university research projects, that is, with an idea conceived by an individual researcher in pursuit of his/her own research interests, publications, funding, and career. Some biobanks, however, come to have scientific value that goes beyond the projects that were initially responsible for the collection of the samples and data they contain. Such value may derive from among other things the uniqueness of the samples in terms of their sheer volume, the quality of the samples, the ability to link the samples with information retrieved in disease registries, or the fact that the samples represent very rare diseases.

ELBERTE v LATVIA: The To be or not to be question of Consent.

'Informed consent' is essentially an ethical and legal practice and has long been the central theme in the discussions over tissue research. This commentary discusses the case of Elberte v Latvia (Application no 61243/08, January 2015) which is a new direction in consent for use of tissues in health research. However it has offered lesser clarity in different ways.