Sample Withdrawal or Release - What's the Difference?

There is a distinction between sample withdrawal and sample release, but in both cases, a biobank application must be submitted to Uppsala Biobank if it involves biobank samples that are administratively established or have been established with them.

Sample Withdrawal

Sample withdrawal occurs within the same biobank principal's organization (e.g., Region Uppsala) and involves creating a new sample collection by extracting a subset of samples from an existing sample collection. The sample collection can be either a research sample collection or a sample collection for healthcare, diagnostics, and treatment (HDT). For existing samples, the Swedish Ethical Review Authority determines whether a new informed consent is required. When using samples within a collection in laboratory activities at the headman's organization or when sending samples solely for analysis outside the organization, this is not defined as withdrawal.

Sample Release

Sample release means that a sample collection belonging to, for example, Region Uppsala, is administratively transferred to another headman. It means that another headman (a legal entity, e.g., another region or university) takes over the formal responsibility. This is done by completing the national form L1.2, Agreement on the Release of Samples and Personal Data. The receiving biobank at the new headman's organization needs to sign the agreement. Please contact the receiving biobank to find out if digital signing is possible.

When are samples released?

Sample release is common in collaborations with pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials who want access to existing healthcare samples (available in Region Uppsala's healthcare sample collections). A request for the release of biobank samples may also occur when a researcher moves to another university or collaborates with researchers in another region. The decision and approval for sample release are always made by the biobank manager, and it is not guaranteed that a researcher can take the sample collection with them, for example, when changing positions.

Note that samples sent for healthcare-related actions or analyses within or between headmen are not considered releases. The transfer of material between different sample collections within the same headman is defined as extraction and does not constitute a release.