Tissue Solutions Ltd

Fresh human skin is available for use in your drug discovery and development applications such as drug permeation studies, skin irritation and toxicology models and for the isolation of primary and stem cells.

We provide surgical excess tissue following cosmetic procedures and can supply sheets of fresh skin from abdomen (full thickness and dermatomed), breast, scalp, and occasionally from arm, upper and lower eye lid and back.

Post mortem skin can also be obtained from most areas of the body (depending on donor consent) and the typical post mortem intervals (PMIs) are 6-8 hours. The donor age range does vary but donors over the age of 65 will be more common.

All fresh skin samples can be shipped in your medium of choice and are supplied with details of the donors HCV, HBV and HIV status.

We are continually adding to our range of cells isolated from fresh human tissue. These are a valuable, physiologically relevant in vitro research tool. We can offer:

• Primary Cells and cell lines
  
• Normal/healthy human cells
  
• Disease specific human cells
  

These can be shipped as live cultures or cryopreserved.

Hepatocytes:

• Fresh or Frozen,
  
• For growing in suspension or in monolayers,
  
• As short— (5 to 6 days) or long—term cultures (up to 3 weeks).
  
• Fresh cells can be shipped in flasks or multiwall plates.
  

All cells are supplied with donor information including age, sex, liver pathology and medical history. We can also supply subcellular fractions: microsomes, S9 fractions (non—induced or induced and cytosols).

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC):

Cryopreserved human PBMCs and Cord Blood Mononuclear Cells are now available immediately, with functionality comparable to fresh isolations. We also offer highly purified monocyte, T-cells and B-cell subsets. These are available with basic or enhanced Characterization.

• PBMCs available from normal and diseased donors (includes autoimmune diseases: RA, SLE,
  Crohn’s, MS)
  
• Basic Characterization — includes age, gender, ethnicity, HLA-I data
  
• Enhanced Characterization — includes age, gender, ethnicity, HLA Class-I and Class-II data and ELISpot-IFNγ responses to PHA, CEF and CMV peptide pools
  

All cells are supplied with donor information including age, sex, liver pathology and medical history. We can also supply subcellular fractions: microsomes, S9 fractions (non—induced or induced and cytosols).

Human Keratinocytes:

Normal adult keratinocytes prepared from breast or abdominal skin.

Human Fibroblasts:

Isolated from abdominal skin, breast skin or scalp samples.

Human Melanocytes:

Epidermal melanocytes isolated from the skin of healthy donors.

Human Adipocytes & Pre—adipocytes:

Subcutaneous adipocytes and pre—adipocytes purified from surgical excess normal material. Protocols for culture and differentiation are provided.

Human Pancreatic Islets:

High quality, characterised human pancreatic islets are available for research use, including normal human islets and pancreatic islets from type 1 and type 2 diabetic donors.

All our human cells have been isolated from donors that are negative for HIV1/2, HCV and HBV infection and certified free of mycoplasmal, bacterial, yeast and fungal contamination. Please contact us for details of our current stock availability.

Cryopreserved human PBMCs and Cord Blood Mononuclear Cells are now available immediately, with functionality comparable to fresh isolations. We also offer highly purified monocyte, T-cells and B-cell subsets. These are available with basic or enhanced Characterization.

• PBMCs available from normal and diseased donors (includes autoimmune diseases: RA, SLE,
  Crohn’s, MS)
  
• Basic Characterization — includes age, gender, ethnicity, HLA-I data
  
• Enhanced Characterization — includes age, gender, ethnicity, HLA Class-I and Class-II data and ELISpot-IFNγ responses to PHA, CEF and CMV peptide pools
  

All cells are supplied with donor information including age, sex, liver pathology and medical history. We can also supply subcellular fractions: microsomes, S9 fractions (non—induced or induced and cytosols).

Our Tissue Procurement Team is extremely experienced in efficient and ethical prospective collection of human specimens for research.

• Global sourcing network — We work closely with our collaborating hospitals and post—mortem
  sources. Tissue Solutions’ extensive network of sources is key to our ability to successfully
  meet stringent client requirement.
  
• Ethics — All sources have obtained IRB/ethics approval to allow the provision of human tissues
  for research.
  
• Meeting Tight Requirements — We have a proven track record in the provision of those “tough”
  human tissues, such as fresh samples and those with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria.
  
• Custom Collections — By working closely with our collaborating hospitals and post—mortem
  sources, we can set up and manage customised collection programmes for specific client
  projects.
  

Ante— and Post—Mortem Tissue Collections

• Living Donors — Samples can be prospectively collected from living donors, including blood, serum, plasma, urine, and skin biopsies, as well as fresh surgical excess tissue from both normal and diseased donors.
  
• Post—Mortem — A wide range of tissue is available from our post—mortem sources on a prospective basis, including fresh brain and eyes. Please speak with our Tissue Procurement Team about your requirements.
  

Feasibility Studies

Our specialist tissue aquisitionists have more than 30 years of experience in sourcing human tissue for research. Our feasibility studies include the following:

• Identification of collaborating clinicians and clinical groups willing to collect on your behalf
  
• Establishment of realistic protocols and project timelines
  
• Provision of realistic alternative approaches (if needed) e.g. different tissue types or
  experiments
  
• Identification of currently banked, specialised collections relevant to your research.
  

All contact details of those potentially involved, and a brief description of their role, would be provided.

Establishing Clinical Collaborations

We are able to establish direct agreements between you and the human tissue source if required. For prospective collections we can prepare the project plan, recruit collaborating clinicians, and secure an agreement with the source, all on your behalf.

Obtaining UK Ethical Approval

For our clients in the UK, we also offer advice on the ethics application process. This can include:

• Obtaining UK ethics approval on your behalf.
  
• Preparing realistic protocols.
  
• Designing patient information & consent sheets that conform to the National Research Ethics
  Service (NRES) guidelines.
  

Human Sample Transport Logistics

We coordinate tissue delivery direct from the source to you and deal with all logistics and paperwork, including expediting materials through customs in cross—border deliveries. We can implement logistics programmes anywhere in the world for efficient transport, and guarantee the maintenance of sample integrity whether it is banked or fresh, chilled or frozen.

Our experienced logistics team review transit requirements for each project and ship using validated packaging with the most appropriate courier. We work with a number of specialist couriers worldwide and continually review their performance.

We provide a range of fresh human tissue samples to our clients in the UK, Europe and USA on a prospective basis. The viability of this will obviously vary depending on the locations of both the source and the client.
We can deliver a range of both normal and cancer samples from surgical resection for use in for example ex vivo and cell based assays.

In addition, post mortem samples can be provided from organ donors that are not suitable for transplantation.
Fresh bloods and urine samples can also be obtained from healthy and diseased volunteers on a prospective collection basis.

Cell and Tissue Culture Services