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Cell therapy has existed since the first bone marrow transplant in the 1950s involving identical twins. The blood-forming stem cells were used to restore healthy blood cells for the twin with leukemia. It was not until 1968 that genetic matching (known as human leukocyte antigen matching) was known to be important, and not until 1973 that bone marrow transplants were performed from non-twin-related and nonrelated donors. The most important application of human stem cells is for the generation of cells and tissues for cell-based therapies. Currently, donated organs and tissues are often the only option to replace diseased, injured, or destroyed tissue. The availability for these transplantable tissues and organs is very limited, however. To satisfy the demand for a source for these cells and tissues, induced pluripotent stem cells that have been differentiated into specific cell types can serve as a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues. A bank of suitable human leukocyte antigen-matched cells will be an important source providing immediate availability of cells that are readily scalable, economical, and well characterized. Areas of active pursuit with stem cell therapy is being investigated for treating diseases such as macular degeneration, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and neurodegenerative diseases. This article describes the advantages and hurdles for the use of induced pluripotent cells as the starting material for a source of replacement cells for regenerative medicine., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This issue is dedicated to the contributions of Professor Glyn O. Phillips to the field of tissue banking and the advancement of science in general. The use of ionizing radiation to sterilize medical products drew the interest of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). A meeting in 1976 in Athens Greece to present work on the effects of sterilizing radiation doses upon the antigenic properties of proteins and biologic tissues was my first introduction of Professor Phillips and the role that he was to play in Tissue Banking (Friedlaender, in Phillips GO, Tallentine AN (eds) Radiation sterilization. Irradiated tissues and their potential clinical use. The North E. Wales Institute, Clwyd, p 128, 1978). The IAEA sponsored subsequent meetings in the Republic of Korea, Czechoslovakia and Rangoon, the later including a visit to the tissue bank by Professor Phillips. His advocacy resulted in multiple workshops and teaching opportunities in a variety of countries, one of which led to the establishment of the Asia Pacific Surgical Tissue Banking Association in 1989 (Phillips and Strong, in Phillips GO, Strong DM, von Versen R, Nather A (eds) Advances in tissue banking, vol 3. World Scientific, Singapore, pp 403-417, 1999).

Professor Phillips began his involvement in the implementation of this important IAEA programme, insisting that there were advantages to be gained by using the ionizing radiation technique to sterilize human and animal tissues, based on the IAEA experience gained in the sterilization of medical products. The outcome of the implementation of the IAEA programme on radiation and tissue banking demonstrated that Professor Phillips was right in his opinion.

The rapid growth of tissue banking and associated international organisations following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1991 is described. This surge in collaboration led to a world-wide constructive movement to use and to produce human tissues. As the years progressed industrialisation, led by the USA, improved the quality of tissue allografts but led higher costs and consolidation within the developing industry. The growth of litigation more than kept pace with the industrial progress. One landmark case is described, the outcome of which could revolutionise the current practices now applied to eliminate possible viral contamination of implanted tissue grafts.

The New York Brain Bank processes brains and organs of clinically well-characterized patients with age-related neurodegenerative diseases, and for comparison, from individuals without neurologic or psychiatric impairments. The donors, either patients or individuals, were evaluated at healthcare facilities of the Columbia University of New York. Each source brain yields four categories of samples: fresh frozen blocks and crushed parenchyma, and formalin-fixed wet blocks and histology sections. A source brain is thoroughly evaluated to determine qualitatively and quantitatively any changes it might harbor using conventional neuropathologic techniques. The clinical and pathologic diagnoses are integrated to determine the distributive diagnosis assigned to the samples obtained from a source brain. The gradual standardization of the protocol was developed in 1981 in response to the evolving requirements of basic investigations on neurodegeneration. The methods assimilate long-standing experience from multiple centers. The resulting and current protocol includes a constant central core applied to all brains with conditional flexibility around it. The New York Brain Bank is an integral part of the department of pathology, where the expertise, teaching duties, and hardware are shared. Since details of the protocols are available online, this chapter focuses on practical issues in professionalizing brain banking., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aims: To revise 25 cases selected from Karl Lennert's personal archive (21) and Bologna and Frankfurt Registries (four) because of cytological similarities., Methods and Results: All cases were provided with paraffin blocks and studied by immunohistochemistry and molecular techniques. While phenotyping was very informative, among molecular studies only EBER in situ-hybridization (ISH) was successful. Twenty-two cases were concluded as peripheral T cell lymphomas (PTCL). Of these, six were reclassified as angioimmunoblastic T cell lymphoma (AITL), 13 as PTCL, not otherwise specified (NOS), including four follicular variants and one tumour with T-zone pattern, and three as borderline tumours between AITL and PTCL/NOS. All these cases consisted homogeneously of small/medium-sized elements with mild nuclear atypia and an evident rim of clear/pale cytoplasm. On immunohistochemistry, they regularly expressed three to six follicular helper T cell (FTH)-associated markers. EBER-ISH revealed scattered EBV-infected B cells in all tumours except those with 'follicular' growth pattern. The content of follicular dendritic cells and high-endothelial venules varied significantly depending on the histotype., Conclusions: This study shows that: (i) historical material can be still employed usefully, and (ii) the FTH-phenotype corresponds to a broad spectrum of PTCLs that might form a new category to be validated in future molecular and clinicopathological analyses., (2011 Blackwell Publishing Limited.)

The evolution of the Tissue Bank belonging to the University Hospital Erasme is summarized during its 13 years of experience. In parallel with this evolution, the important modifications of the legislation, the selection criteria and the bone graft processing are reported. The significant improvement of the safety of the allograft related to the risk of infection is also mentioned. In constant progression, the ongoing research within the BTE studies the osteogenic activity of the graft, mostly of bone demineralized matrix.

Professor J.A.N. Corsellis, whose life and work is recalled here, gained great insight into the meaning of morphological cerebral aberrations found in neuropsychiatric disease through exact neuropathological investigations of tissue specimens obtained from patients with distinct syndromes. He was a leading authority in the field. We have searched and compiled resources relating to J.A.N. Corsellis' life and work, including personal memories from colleagues and data from scientific publications. J.A.N. Corsellis made seminal contributions to the understanding of neuropsychiatric disease; his works substantially added to the understanding of the dementias, schizophrenia and the psychoses, and morphological sequelae of boxing. In seizure disorders, his name is linked to the first description of focal cortical dysplasia and limbic encephalitis, the pathology of status epilepticus and Ammon's horn sclerosis, and the systematic investigation of epilepsy surgery specimens in general. Both his life and work are closely linked to Runwell Hospital, Wickford, Essex and the Maudsley Hospital. During his professional life he established a large brain bank, now known as the Corsellis Collection. J.A.N. Corsellis had significant impact on neuroscience; many of his observations were groundbreaking and are still valid.

The rapid emergence of large-scale genetic databases raises issues at the nexus of medical law and ethics, as well as the need, at both national and international levels, for an appropriate and effective framework for their governance. This is even more so for retrospective access to data for secondary uses, wherein the original consent did not foresee such use. The first part of this paper provides a brief historical overview of the ethical and legal frameworks governing consent issues in biobanking generally, before turning to the secondary use of retrospective data in epidemiological biobanks. Such use raises particularly complex issues when (1) the original consent provided is restricted; (2) the minor research subject reaches legal age; (3) the research subject dies; or (4) samples and data were obtained during medical care. Our analysis demonstrates the inconclusive, and even contradictory, nature of guidelines and confirms the current lack of compatible regulations. The second part of this paper uses the European Network for Genetic and Genomic Epidemiology (ENGAGE Consortium) as a case study to illustrate the challenges of research using previously collected data sets in Europe. Our study of 52 ENGAGE consent forms and information documents shows that a broad range of mechanisms were developed to enable secondary use of the data that are part of the ENGAGE Consortium.

Dendritic spines receive the majority of excitatory connections in the central nervous system, and, thus, they are key structures in the regulation of neural activity. Hence, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying their generation and plasticity, both during development and in adulthood, are a matter of fundamental and practical interest. Indeed, a better understanding of these mechanisms should provide clues to the development of novel clinical therapies. Here, we present original results obtained from high-quality images of Cajal's histological preparations, stored at the Cajal Museum (Instituto Cajal, CSIC), obtained using extended focus imaging, three-dimensional reconstruction, and rendering. Based on the data available in the literature regarding the formation of dendritic spines during development and our results, we propose a unifying model for dendritic spine development.

Tissue banking started in Thailand in 1979. Five years after this, the Bangkok Biomaterial Centre (BBC) was established in the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, with the support of the IAEA program. The objective of the Centre was to provide sterile bones and tissues for clinical use. Through the passage of time, the Bangkok Biomaterial Centre has gained confidence from the end user and by 2007 has processed 33,872 allografts from 491 deceased donors and 4,035 live donors were used in medical treatment in 3,596 patients in more than 79 different hospitals. More than 305 surgeons from Thailand used the tissue produced in the BBC. At the beginning of its work the BBC concentrate its activities on the production of the following tissues: freeze dried bone, freeze dried dura mater and freeze dried fascia lata. All of these tissues were sterilised using ethylene oxide gas until the end of year 1984. Since 1985 the BBC sterilise tissue using ionising radiation. The BBC is now producing deep-frozen; bone tendon, cartilage, trachea and soft tissue; freeze-dried; bone, fascia lata, dura mater, amniotic membrane, bone hydroxyapatite, bone tablet and fresh preserved amniotic membrane.

The National University Hospital (NUH) Tissue Bank was established in October 1988. The National University of Singapore (NUS) was officially appointed by IAEA to be the IAEA/NUS Regional Training Centre (RTC) for RCA Member States for training of tissue bank operators on September 18, 1996. In the first five years since its establishment the National University Hospital Tissue Bank concentrated its work on the sterile procurement and production of deep frozen femoral heads and were used in patients for bone reconstruction. The cost of producing these tissues were about SGD$ 250 per femoral head although cost fees were initially charged at SGD$ 50 per femoral head. The most important activity carried out by Singapore within the IAEA was training. Between November 1997 and April 2007, a total of nine courses were conducted by RTC with a total of 180 tissue bank operators registered, 133 from Asia and the Pacific region (13 countries, including 2 from Iran), 14 from Africa (Zambia, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, and South Africa), 6 from Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Peru, and Uruguay), 9 from Europe (Greece, Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine), and 2 from Australia. The last batch (ninth batch) involved 20 students registered in April 2007 and will be due to sit for the terminal examination in April 2008.

In 1986, the National Nuclear Energy Agency (Batan) in Jakarta started the research and development for the setting up of a tissue bank (Batan Research Tissue Bank/BRTB) by preserving fresh amnion or fetal membranes by lyophilisation and then sterilising by gamma irradiation. During the period of 1990 and 2000, three more tissue banks were set up, i.e., Biomaterial Centre in Surabaya, Jamil Tissue Bank in Padang, and Sitanala Tissue Bank in Tangerang. In 1994, BRTB produced bone allografts. The banks established under the IAEA program concentrated its work on the production of amnion, bone and soft tissues allografts, as well as bone xenografts. These tissues (allografts and xenografts) were sterilised using gamma irradiation (about 90%) and the rest were sterilized by ETO and those products have been used in the treatment of patients at more than 50 hospitals in Indonesia. In 2004, those tissue banks produced 8,500 grafts and 5,000 of them were amnion grafts for eye treatment and wound dressing. All of those grafts were used for patients as well as for research. In 2006, the production increased to 9,000 grafts. Although the capacity of those banks can produce more grafts, we are facing problems on getting raw materials from suitable donors. To fulfill the demand of bone grafts we also produced bone xenografts. The impact of the IAEA program in tissue banking activities in Indonesia can be summarised as follows: to support the national program on importing substitutes for medical devices. The price of imported tissues are between US$ 50 and US$ 6,000 per graft. Local tissue bank can produce tissues with the same quality with the price for about 10-30% of the imported tissues.

The tissue bank "Rosa Guerzoni Chambergo" (RGCTB) located at the Child's Health Institute was inaugurated in 1996, with the financial and technical support of the IAEA program on radiation and tissue banking. Since 1998, the biological bandage of fresh and lyophilised pigskin, amnion and bone tissue is processed routinely in this bank. In all cases, the tissue is sterilised with the use of Cobalt-60 radiation, process carried out at the Laboratories of Irradiation of the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN). The tissue bank in the Child's Health Institute helped to save lives in an accident occurred in Lima, when a New Year's fireworks celebration ran out of control in January 2002. Nearly 300 people died in the tragic blaze and hundreds more were seriously burned and injured. Eight Lima hospitals and clinics suddenly were faced with saving the lives of severely burned men, women and children. Fortunately, authorities were ready to respond to the emergency. More than 1,600 dressings were sterilised and supplied to Lima surgeons. The efforts helped save the lives of patients who otherwise might not have survived the Lima fire. Between 1998 and September 2007, 35,012 tissue grafts were produced and irradiated. Radiation sterilised tissues are used by 20 national medical institutions as well as 17 private health institutions. The tissue bank established in Peru with the support of the IAEA is now producing the following tissues: pigskin dressings, fresh and freeze-dried; bone allografts, chips, wedges and powdered, and amnion dressings air-dried. It is also now leading the elaboration of national standards, assignment being entrusted by ONDT (Organización Nacional de Donación y Transplantes; National Organisation on Donation and Transplant). This among other will permit the accreditation of the tissue bank. In this task is also participating IPEN.

The Tissue Banking Project in Chile started as an idea in 1996. Before 1996 in Chile there were only a few small bone banks working with their own standards of quality. The first tissue bank (LPTR) was established in 1998, with the technical and financial support of the IAEA. Since 2001, the laboratory began to produce tissues for clinical use, starting with the processing of 6 amniotic membranes, 2 femoral heads and 19 batches of pig skin. In 2002, the laboratory began the processing of human skin. Five students from Chile have graduated from training courses carried out in Singapore and in Buenos Aires under the IAEA training program since 1998. The amount of tissues produced and sterilized using ionizing radiation by the LPTR in the last years was 320,000 cm(2) of human skin, 553,600 cm(2) of pig skin, 5,400 cm(2) of amniotic membrane, 49 femoral heads, 3 large bones and 300 g of bovine bone. The patients treated with sterilized tissues produced by the LPTR were 200 deep burns treated with human skin and pig skin, 40 bone transplants from femoral heads, 77 ophthalmologic patients treated with amniotic membrane and 150 bovine bone transplants for dental treatments.

Tissue banking activities in Argentina started in 1993. The regulatory and controlling national authority on organ, tissue and cells for transplantation activity is the National Unique Coordinating Central Institute for Ablation and Implant (INCUCAI). Three tissue banks were established under the IAEA program and nine other banks participated actively in the implementation of this program. As result of the implementation of the IAEA program in Argentina and the work done by the established tissue banks, more and more hospitals are now using, in a routine manner, radiation sterilised tissues processed by these banks. During the period 1992-2005, more than 21 016 tissues were produced and irradiated in the tissue banks participating in the IAEA program. Within the framework of the training component of the IAEA program, Argentina has been selected to host the Regional Training Centre for Latin American. In this centre, tissue bank operators and medical personal from Latin American countries were trained. Since 1999, Argentina has organised four regular regional training courses and two virtual regional training courses. More than twenty (20) tissue bank operators and medical personnel from Argentina were trained under the IAEA program in the six courses organised in the country. In general, ninety (96) tissue bank operators and medical personnel from eight Latin-American countries were trained in the Buenos Aires regional training centre. From Argentina 16 students graduated in these courses.

The banking of tissues such bone and skin began in India in the 1980s and 1990s. Although eye banking started in 1945 there was little progress in this field for the next five decades. As part of the IAEA/RCA program to use ionising radiation for the sterilisation of biological tissues in Asia and the Pacific Region, the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in 1986 decided to set up a tissue bank in Mumbai funded by the Government of India. The TMH Tissue Bank became operational in January 1988, and stands as a pioneering effort in the country to provide safe, clinically useful and cost-effective human allografts for transplantation. It uses the IAEA International Standards on Tissue Banking. All the grafts are sterilised terminally by exposure to a dose of 25 kGy of gamma radiation, which has been validated as recommended by the IAEA Code of Practice for the Radiation Sterilisation of Tissues Allografts: Requirements for Validation and Routine Control. The TMH Tissue Bank is registered with the Maharashtra State Health Authorities, and in May 2004, it became India's first Tissue Bank to receive ISO 9001:2000 certification of its Quality Management System. From 1989 to September 2007, the TMH Tissue Bank has supplied 11,369 allografts to 310 surgeons operating in 69 hospitals in Mumbai and 56 hospitals in other parts of India. These numbers have been limited by difficulties with the retrieval of tissues from deceased donors due to inadequate resources and tissue donation policies of hospitals. As the Government of India representative in the IAEA program, the TMH Tissue Bank has promoted and co-coordinated these activities in the country and the development of tissue banks using radiation sterilisation of tissue grafts. Towards this end it has been engaged in training personnel, drawing up project proposals, and supporting the establishment of a Tissue Retrieval Centre in Mumbai. Currently it networks with the Zonal Transplant Co-ordination Centre of the Government of Maharashtra, and the newly instituted National Deceased Donor Transplantation Network, which will work with the Government of India to set up rules and regulations for organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

Tissue banking started in Mexico in 1948-1949, when two bone banks were established, one at the Infantile Hospital of Mexico and other at the Central Military Hospital. Mexico has benefited for the implementation of the IAEA program since through it has been able to settle down and to consolidate the Tissue Bank at the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares ININ (National Institute for Nuclear Research). This is the only bank in Latin America that has a Quality Management System in force, certified under ISO 9001:2000 since August 1, 2003. The first tissue processed was amnion. The main products of the BTR are amnion and pig skin. Both are biological tissues which their main use is as a wound dressing in patients with burns, scars, diabetic ulcers, epidermolysis bullosa, damaged ocular surface, etc. The General Health Law, published in 1984 and reformed in June 19, 2007, describes the procedure for the disposal of organs, tissues and human cadavers in its fourteenth title and in the Regulation for Sanitary Control. During the period 2001-2005, the ININ Tissue Bank produced 292 sterilised tissues (amnion, 86,668 cm(2), and frozen pig skin, 164,220 cm(2), at an estimated cost of 1,012,668 Mexican pesos. Until 2006, one hundred eighty five (185) patients have been treated with the use of sterilised tissues produced by the ININ Tissue Bank. The radiation source used for sterilisation of tissues is an industrial Cobalt-60 irradiator model JS-6500 AECL, which belongs to ININ. This equipment is located in other building, close to the BTR, in the Centro Nuclear de México "Dr. Nabor Carrillo Flores" (Nuclear Center of Mexico). Until 2006, six hospitals use in a routine way the sterilised tissues produced by the ININ Tissue Bank, for the treatment of burns originated by diverse agents like flame, electricity, liquids in boil, chemical reagents, as well as for the reconstruction of the ocular surface. Two of these hospitals treat patients of very low economic incomes, mainly needy individuals, who cannot afford to pay this type of treatments in other hospitals due to their high cost. The results obtained up to now are highly promising.

BNOT was created and regulated in 1977 and started its operation in 1978 according to the Decree No. 86/1977. By the Decree 248/005 is transformed in the National Institute of Donation and Transplantation of Cells, Tissues and Organs (Instituto Nacional de Donación y Trasplante de Células, Tejidos y Organos--INDT). The organisation has been operating within the State University Medical School and the Public Health Secretary and it is the governmental organisation responsible for the regulation, policy and management of donation and transplantation in Uruguay. By the Decree 160/2006 is responsible for human cells and tissues regulation too. The participation of the INDT in the IAEA program facilitated the introduction of the radiation sterilisation technique for the first time in the country. The radiation sterilisation of tissues processed by INDT (ex BNOT), was initially carried out in the 60 Cobalt Industrial Plant in the National Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina and now is carried out in INDT, using a Gamma Cell 220 Excel, which was provided by the IAEA through the national project URU/7/005. The results of the implementation of tissues, quality control and quality management system, are showed.

The IAEA was instrumental in developing the first Malaysian tissue bank at University Hospital of Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kubang Kerian, Kelantan in early 1990s and it was officiated as National Tissue Bank in 1994. Up to date, 38 government and private hospitals have received a supply from the bank. Bone allografts in term of bone chips, morsalised bone and long bones are procured from Malaysian donors. Almost thirty students from Malaysia graduated in the training courses carried out in Singapore since 1998 at regional and interregional levels. Organ donation is more readily accepted by the public at the moments, perhaps due to the vast promotion and advertisement given by the local newspapers and other media, but gradually tissue donation is catching up as well.

The first multi-tissue bank was founded at Havana in 1958. At that time, freeze-drying was used at the bank as a method of preserving, as well as Cobalt 60 irradiation to sterilise bone tissue, heart valves and others. The impact of the IAEA program in tissue banking activities in Cuba can be summarised as follows: (a) Increase in the production of sterilised tissues using ionising radiation (bone, pig skin and amnion) for medical treatment in the tissue bank of the Hospital Frank Pais; (b) increase of the quality of the productions of bone tissues, pig skin and amnion; (c) reduction in the import of tissues by increasing the local production of tissues; (d) sustainability in the number of donors through the implementation of a public and professional awareness campaign; (e) training of six persons in the Regional Training Centre of Buenos Aires; (f) qualification of one person in the administration of a tissue bank and in the implementation of a Quality System. The amount of tissues produced and sterilised using the ionising radiation techniques in the established banks was 25,510 units. The amount of patients treated with sterilised tissues produced by the established banks was 2,448.

Until 2000, efforts into organising tissue banks in Brazil had not progressed far beyond small "in house" tissue storage repositories, usually annexed to Orthopaedic Surgery Services. Despite the professional entrepreneurship of those working as part time tissue bankers in such operations, best practices in tissue banking were not always followed due to the lack of regulatory standards, specialised training, adequate facilities and dedicated personnel. The Skin Bank of the Plastic Surgery Department of the Hospital das Clinicas of Sao Paulo, the single skin bank in Brazil, was not an exception. Since 1956, restricted and unpredictable amounts of skin allografts were stored under refrigeration for short periods under very limited quality controls. As in most "tissue banks" at that time in Brazil, medical and nursing staff worked on a volunteer and informal basis undergoing no specific training. IAEA supported the implementation of the tissue banking program in Brazil through the regional project RLA/7/009 "Quality system for the production of irradiated sterilised grafts" (1998-2000) and through two interregional projects INT/6/049 "Interregional Centre of Excellence in Tissue Banking", during the period 2002-2004 and INT/6/052 "Improving the Quality of Production and Uses of Radiation Sterilised Tissue Grafts", during the period 2002-2004. In 2001-2002, the first two years of operation of the HC-Tissue Bank, 53 skin transplants were carried out instead of the previous 4-5 a year. During this period, 75 individuals donated skin tissue, generating approximately 90,000 cm(2) of skin graft. The IAEA program were of great benefit to Brazilian tissue banking which has evolved from scattered make shift small operations to a well-established, high quality tissue banking scenario.

In 1971, first bone bank was established at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Catholic University of Korea. The first clinical case was reported at the Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Association in 1973. Subsequently, more than 60 surgical bone banks were established in the university and teaching hospitals throughout country. In 1990, the Korea Biomaterial Research Institute (KBRI) organised the IAEA/RCA training course on tissue banking. In this course students from 17 countries participated. In 1994 the first collaboration for cadaver tissue recovery was performed. It is important to single out that the various religious groups in Korea have favourable attitudes towards tissue donation, which contributes to the success of the tissue banking programs in the country. The demands of allograft were getting increased in the Korean medical and dental society. Currently, 62 hospital based bone banks, 5 processing tissue banks, 1 regional tissue bank and more than 30 tissue distributors are working in Korea. Based on the U.S.A. usage of more than 1,000,000 grafts per year, 100,000-200,000 grafts will be needed in Korea. Those findings indicate a greatly increased need for training of tissue bank operators. The Korean society will need at least 20-30 tissue bank operators for training in every year. The National Training Centre (NTC) for tissue bank operators and medical personal using the IAEA Curriculum in the Korean languages was established in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, NTC have been trained 40 tissue bank operators. They have produced at least 10,000 tissues per year. These figures indicate a cost saving of US$ 10 million. Within 5 years, NTC will train 100 tissue bank operators. These individuals and their respective banks will provide an increasing number of high quality grafts to the communities they serve at a cost far less than if they were acquired from abroad.

The Brain Donation Program at Sun Health Research Institute has been in continual operation since 1987, with over 1000 brains banked. The population studied primarily resides in the retirement communities of northwest metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. The Institute is affiliated with Sun Health, a nonprofit community-owned and operated health care provider. Subjects are enrolled prospectively to allow standardized clinical assessments during life. Funding comes primarily from competitive grants. The Program has made short postmortem brain retrieval a priority, with a 2.75-h median postmortem interval for the entire collection. This maximizes the utility of the resource for molecular studies; frozen tissue from approximately 82% of all cases is suitable for RNA studies. Studies performed in-house have shown that, even with very short postmortem intervals, increasing delays in brain retrieval adversely affect RNA integrity and that cerebrospinal fluid pH increases with postmortem interval but does not predict tissue viability.

Human tissue has been stored and used for research on a regular basis for more than 80 years. During the 1990s, collections of human tissue suddenly became framed as ethical problems in a process reflecting developments in genetic research intertwined with developments in patient rights and steps towards increased commercialization of research. This review describes the process of framing tissue storage as an ethical problem and the solutions proposed in the process. It gives an overview of the academic debate and relates this debate to empirical studies of donor attitudes and interests. It points to the clear discrepancy between the concerns of donors, legislators and ethicists. The academic debate and legislatory action tend to focus on informed consent, and most of the concerns that donors have remain unattended to.

The establishment of a Tissue Bank and the science of Tissue Banking in South Africa started in the 1960s and is still developing. This article describes the development and growth of Tissue Banking in South Africa. The current emphasis is to supply viable bone products that have been produced under the best possible quality controlled circumstances; with the collaboration between different Organ Donation Organisations. Through collaboration, a dramatic increase in the number of donors was noted over the years. Concurrently, there was a dramatic increase in the usage of different allograft products and now necessitates the development of new graft materials for expanding patient options. As an ongoing concern, the Tissue Bank in South Africa experienced an ever increase in costs to enhance quality/safety controls: increase in historical patient information, documentation and serological testing in a population struggling to control HIV. To date, the South African Tissue Bank has not experienced any untoward patient incidence since the 1960s and currently is getting over 500 donors per year.

This paper narrates the history of the conservation of the human brain, tracking techniques of brain archiving from the first experiments in the preservation of soft tissue in spirits of alcohol to the latest refinements in cryogenic technology. It traces the changing social and legal conditions that permitted the collection of post mortem human tissue, as well as the increasingly sophisticated technologies that allowed for the preservation and storage of this material. This preliminary survey of brain archiving uses examples of specific collections in order to discuss changes in the techniques, goals and achievements of neural tissue collecting from the mid-eighteenth to the late twentieth centuries.

Tissue transplantation is more common than organ transplantation. Legislative changes in 1996 transformed tissue banking and conditions for tissue transplantation in Sweden. After an initial decrease in donated tissue, heart valves are now available in sufficient numbers, but there is sometimes a shortage of valves the right size for pediatric cardiac surgery. Since the new transplantation legislation was implemented there has been an increase in the number of valves from neonatal donation and after sudden infant death. The number of donated corneas does not correspond to the number required for transplantation. A number of tissue coordinators have been established throughout the country and recently some new tissue banks were founded to increase the amount of tissue available for transplantation. The organization of the tissue bank in Lund is described. There is a lack of knowledge about tissue transplantation and donation among health professionals as well as the general public, and more education is warranted.

The skin bank of the burns unit in Ljubljana was established in 1973 and has since then been supplying homografts solely to the patients treated at this unit. It has evolved from being the burns unit skin bank to the national skin bank. At present all the burn victims from Slovenia by whom the allograft skin is needed in the course of treatment are admitted to this burns unit. The exclusion criteria for skin donors have now become much more strict than were 25 years ago. Cadaveric skin is now processed and preserved by glycerolisation or exceptionally used as fresh in comparison to 1973 when skin was stored frozen at -28 degrees C. At present donors in 90% of cases are multiorgan donors or deceased patients from the clinical centre part of which is the burns unit. Harvesting, processing and preservation of the skin have been performed by the burns unit and theatre staff since the foundation of this skin bank. The burns unit with its skin bank has been totally self sufficient in supplying cadaveric skin since 1973. The organisation of the skin bank is simple and the cost of the cadaveric skin from this skin bank is reduced to a minimum.

A short history of the early development of the first European tissue bank dealing with the legislation, organization, manufacturing of 12 kinds of tissue graft preserves used in four continents, education, research, organization of scientific meetings and publications is given. Mentioned are also other branches of biological objects banking attached to the tissue bank.