Designated Individual for the Human Tissue Authority (HTA)

The Designated Individual (DI) for the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) Licence at The University of Bradford is currently Dr Sue Boyce (s.g.boyce@bradford.ac.uk). The Licence Holder is Mr Graham Seed (G.Seed@bradford.ac.uk).

Role of the DI

The role of the DI is set out in the HTAct of 2004.

The role of the DI is to secure the activities of the organisation such that the conditions of the Licence are complied with. The DI provides the link between the HTA and the licensed organisation.

Licensable activities for scheduled purposes

• Determining the cause of death

• Establishing after a person’s death the efficacy of any drug or other treatment administered to him

• Obtaining scientific or medical information about a living or deceased person which may be relevant to any other person (including a future person)

• Public display

• Research in connection with disorders, or the functioning, of the human body

• Clinical Audit

• Education or training relating to human health

• Performance assessment

• Public Health monitoring

• Quality assurance

Codes of Practice covering these scheduled purposes and related activities

Persons Designate

The definition of the Persons Designate (PD) is a person to whom the licence applies and to whom the authority conferred by the licence extends. The PD’s are registered with the HTA but do not carry the legal responsibility of the DI.

Researchers working ‘under’ the PD are available for local advice and guidance; they provide a bridge between the DI and the researcher. The PD keeps a catalogue of human tissue samples in their area of responsibility. It is the responsibility of the researcher to keep the PD up-to-date with their tissue store or to inform them if they are commencing work with human tissue.

Your PD is:

Dr Paul Loadman - Institute of Cancer Therapeutics
Dr Anna Snelling - Biomedical Sciences
Dr Steve Britland - Pharmacology
Mr Rob Janaway - Archaeology, Geography & Environmental Sciences

Mandatory training for PD’s (open to researchers)

An annual training session will be held which is mandatory for the PD’s however any person using human tissue in their research or teaching may attend. Relevant updates from the HTA will be forwarded to the PD’s or individuals can sign up to receive the e-newsletter (http://www.hta.gov.uk/).

For researchers within the University of Bradford to be able to continue accessing and working with relevant human tissue in their research it is absolutely imperative that everyone observes and works within the requirements of the Human Tissue Act 2004. Failure to do so may result in the University of Bradford losing the licence at which point no-one would be able to access or work with human tissue.

For this reason a schedule of laboratory compliance audits will be carried out throughout the year in preparation for the annual self –assessment return which is a requirement of the HTA Licence.

Persons fetching tissue from NHS sites should have a Research Passport (Available through the Bradford Institute for Health Research). Anyone having direct contact with NHS patients (to collect samples) should have a current NHS Honorary Contract.

Laboratories within the schedule (please contact the DI if you are not on this list or you are a teaching laboratory which uses human tissue including student samples) include: Μ11; Η6; Η10; H22; Η30; Μ11; Κ8.