FAQ

It is entirely your choice to donate biospecimens to PGH Biobank.  You are under no obligation to participate and if you decline, your medical care will not be affected in any way. Furthermore, if you agree to participate you may withdraw your consent at any time by notifying the Clinical Research Associate (CRA).

If you choose to participate you will donate your biospecimen(s) along with matched clinical data (relevant health information). Biospecimens may consist of tissue, blood, cells, or genetic material.

Tissue will be collected for PGH Biobank each time you are scheduled to have resection surgery or a biopsy as part of your treatment. Blood will be collected at routine clinical visits or when you are having a procedure.

PGH Biobank will link information from your clinical records to your biospecimen sample(s). This is vital in assisting researchers to make important connections between basic medical science and clinical findings.

Your samples and clinical data will be stored securely within the PGH Biobank database until requested for research. PGH Biobank will only allow its stored samples to be used for medical research that is of a high quality and that has ethical approval. Potential research may include all areas of biomedical science, ranging from cellular and molecular biology, i.e., studying cellular functions and analysing protein and genetic material (DNA).

Any research conducted on your samples will be conducted according to the UPM-Research Ethics Board.

No. PGH Biobank will ensure your identity and privacy will always be protected as mandated in Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173). Your name and any other identifying information will not be used for storage. Your samples and data will be de-identified and labelled with a unique PGH biobank identification number for long term storage within the biobank facility. Only authorised personnel will be able to access clinical data, which will be password protected and kept separate from the actual samples. Your confidentiality will be maintained throughout this process

Medical research is a very difficult and time-consuming process and by the time researchers have identified any important findings and these are executed in clinical medicine, the results will generally have no bearing on the patients that donate the samples. You may contact us to find out what projects your donated samples were used for.

If any genetic information obtained from your samples during any of these studies identifies a gene that may be of relevance to your health or your family members, please indicate on your consent form whether or not you would like to be contacted regarding this information. You also have the option of nominating family members or individuals to receive this information on your behalf.