Patients and guardians
Biobank samples can be important for your future care, and are essential for medical research.
Your doctor may have access to your sample if it is needed for your treatment. You can also have your sample destroyed.
The sample is sent to Uppsala, where it is processed for freezing. It is then stored for a long time in a freezer.
Biobank samples may be stored after analysis for future care and treatment, and for research if you have consented to this.
Several Nordic researchers have used samples from the biobank for important studies. Go to publications.
There are leukaemia cells, blood cells, bone marrow and cerebrospinal fluid.
It costs a lot of money to manage requests for sample releases. The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation subsidises a large part of this cost. Find out more about pricing and economics here.
No. In order to obtain samples, several permits are required including approval from the ethics committee and the NOPHO Board.
It costs about SEK 5 million per year. The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation finances this.
Healthcare personnel
Go to documents.
In the first instance, please call Uppsala BioLab on 018-617 23 88 or email info@uppsalabiolab.se.
For sampling bone marrow aspirate and peripheral blood for diagnosis, recurrence, follow-up samples on days 15, 29 and 50, we use heparin tubes with the addition of 0.9% NaCl (physical saline solution).
EDTA tubes are used in the case of remission. This will be used for the preparation of constitutional DNA.
Serum tubes are used for serum sampling.
For sampling of cerebrospinal fluid, use sterile cryotubes or equivalent sterile tubes.
Samples can be sent on any day of the week, including weekends and public holidays, as we will receive the samples on the next working day.
See information under Methods for preparing research samples.
For information on preparation, click here.
For information on preparation, click here.
We update this information annually. Find out more here.
Researchers
Statistics can be found here.
Yes, after 2006. However, this is dependent on the quality and quantity of the sample material sent at the time of onset.
No, we do not provide information on clinical parameters. This information is available from CCEG or via Castor. You can apply using the sample’s NOPHO or Castor number.
See information under Methods for preparing research samples.
The faster the better. Two days (48 hours) usually works well. After that, the quality of the viable cells deteriorates. DNA and RNA last much longer. The researcher can sort out old samples if desired. The RIN value is a measure of quality that is always provided.
We update this information annually. Find out more here.
You can find forms under Documents.
The samples are jointly owned within NOPHO, and it is important that everyone knows how they are used. NOPHO’s board makes a decision after the NOPHO Scientific Group has checked the relevance and value of the study.