Guidelines for collaboration between general research biobanks and the Pathology Department

1. External departments wishing to establish general research biobanks with biobanking assistance from the Pathology Department must have REC approval and must have obtained patient consent before the Pathology Department can collaborate.
2. All biobanking of tissue material from surgical biopsies must be done physically at the Department of Pathology, not at other departments, in order to ensure that the biobanked tissue samples meet quality control standards.
3. Pathologists must be involved from the start since they have the necessary expertise to ensure that biobanking is carried out in a responsible manner.
4. A collaboration agreement between the Department of Pathology and another department must be signed and will function as a written agreement. Both parties can discuss and agree on the distribution of costs and on the type/amount of work that involves the pathologists, and this should be specified in the collaboration agreement. The costs associated with establishing eBiobank for general research biobanks, eBiobank courses, equipment (barcoded tubes/boxes, 1D/2D barcoding scanners, etc.) are to be paid by the departments that request biobanking assistance from the Department of Pathology.
5. It should be noted that the Pathology Department now bills for ultra-freezer rental: NOK 1000/month for large-scale storage, and NOK 500/month for small-scale storage. This should also be stated in the collaboration agreement.
6. Local section leaders or the department leader must approve the collaboration agreement.
7. External departments will be invoiced once a month for ultra-freezer rental and for pathologist time(NOK 1000/hour) for ongoing biobanking work if the latter is applicable.

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