SingHealth Research Tissue Banking Governance

A robust research tissue banking governance framework has been set up within SingHealth to meet the regulatory requirement and to provide guidance to research tissue banks with best tissue banking practices. The SingHealth Tissue Governance Committee (STGC) supported by the Office of Research Integrity and Compliance (ORIC) provides strategic direction, management oversight and sets performance standards for tissue banking activities within SingHealth.

The 4 MOH registered Research Tissue Banks in SingHealth are:

• SingHealth Tissue Repository (STR)
• National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) Tissue Bank
• National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) Biobank
• Singapore Cord Blood Bank (SCBB) (Research)

SingHealth Research Tissue Banking Framework

The research tissue banks shall (i) remain faithful to its purpose, encouraging trust between stakeholders; (ii) be guided by a set of overarching principles when making decisions including being transparent, consistent, accountable and fair; (iii) be adaptable over time.

1) Research Tissue Banks Structure

Each research tissue bank has a defined organizational structure for daily management and oversight of its policies. Each bank is also governed by its own executive or steering committee. This committee will also provide supervision and oversight on the release of human biological material (HBM) to the researcher.

2) Proper Conduct of Tissue Banking Activities

Cluster policies defining best practices for tissue banking activities have been developed in the context of a Quality Management System (QMS). All research tissue banks will act in accordance with the Human Biomedical Research Act (HBRA), Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and other relevant guidelines and maintain strict measures to protect confidentiality, ensuring that data and human biological material (HBM) are coded, linked and stored to high standards of security. The same protection will be extended to handling or analysis of data or human biological material by third parties, where applicable, through appropriate agreements. Each research tissue bank is expected to develop a list of essential standards (refer to figure), including the research tissue bank access policy, de-identification policy and procedures describing process of re-identifying participants.

3) Compliance

Regular audits shall be performed to ensure compliance with HTF, policies and procedures.