Deposition of induced Pluripotent Stem Cell line(s) into EBiSC is a four-step process. See For depositors for more details. EBiSC has a dedicated BioSample Acquisition team to help collate the required information and guide you through the process. Please email deposit@ebisc.org with any queries.
1) First, you need to provide initial information on the cell lines to be deposited, the background of the donor(s), the original bio-specimens and what consent was obtained. This can be done using our Depositor Initial Application form.
2) We will ask you to share copies of the template Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form with us which were used during sample collection. These must be anonymized or coded (pseudonymized).
3) We will then collect information from you on cell line derivation, culture and characterisation. This must be entered at hPSCreg.eu. At the time of registration in hPSCreg a standard name will be generated, which serves as a unique identifier.
4) We will then complete the EBiSC Material Deposit Agreement with you (EMDA) to allow us to distribute your cells for you.
Deposition of iPSC lines into EBiSC has a range of benefits, these include:
The benefits for a consortium creating cell lines:
Yes, EBiSC has extensive experience in expansion, banking and Quality Control of hiPSC lines derived across a multitude of primary material, reprogramming methods, media, matrices and diseases. EBiSC is happy to act as a non-profit intermediary between yourself as a customer and the relevant teams. Please contact us if you would like EBiSC to connect you with a relevant team to perform iPSC banking and/or QC as a fee-for-service activity.
If you deposit iPSC line(s) into EBiSC, your institution remains the owner of the line(s) and users are given the right to use the line for research.
If an end user wishes to commercially exploit EBiSC lines, it is the responsibility of the User to contact the Depositor directly to determine whether express permission or agreement in support of the commercial activity is required. These requirements are clearly highlighted in the agreements that end users have to sign before lines are distributed to them.
Any original iPSC material that has been deposited with EBiSC, but not wholly consumed in the qualification process, may be returned to the Depositor upon request. You may also request the return of any unconsumed primary tissue samples from which the iPSC lines were made if EBiSC partners have been involved in the reprogramming process.+
However, once the iPSC lines are qualified and made available in the EBiSC catalogue they, and any original data required to describe the cell lines, cannot be returned to the Depositor.
No. Your agreement to let EBiSC bank and distribute your cell lines does not limit your own ability to share the cell lines with others. EBiSC does encourage Depositors to support the mutual aim of the EBiSC project, which is to act as a hub for dissemination of quality-controlled cells to researchers worldwide.
Yes. If EBiSC agrees to deposit your cells then you will not be asked to pay for this process.
No. Anyone can apply to have lines deposited with EBiSC.
EBiSC must be able to trace the terms of consent given by the individual who voluntarily donated a tissue sample for derivation of the iPS cell line. You will need to provide an anonymised copy of the consent form together with the accompanying Participant Information Sheet. The consent must:
Where the consent paperwork is acceptable, you will be asked to upload data such as the age, sex and if applicable disease of the donor and the passage number, reprogramming technology and media requirements to the hPSCreg website.
EBiSC aims to share as much data on EBiSC lines as possible so that users can be fully informed when selecting iPSC lines for their research. Additional characterisation will be performed on each line by EBiSC, as part of standard Quality Control procedures.
As a minimum, we require depositors to share the following cell line characterisation data with us, so that we can confirm the provenance of each line:
If available, please also share the following datapoints with EBiSC:
Additional background information on the donor (such as sex and age at biopsy), reprogramming method and culture technique must also be shared to EBiSC.
No, deposit is subject to EBiSC approval of each line you wish to deposit into the Bank. The EBiSC catalogue will be selectively developed according to the needs of the research community and resources of the Bank to characterise and curate them.
After review and approval of the consent obtained at tissue procurement, completion of an EBiSC Material Deposit Agreement (EMDA), and collection of cell line characterisation data into the hPSCreg portal, a number of vials (3-5) can be shipped to our Central Banking. The Bank may then further characterise and expand the cell line, and cryopreserve 30-50 vials for storage and distribution. The Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering located in Germany, will store and distribute vials to users.
It is the responsibility of the entities involved in tissue collection, cell line generation and manipulation to agree who ‘owns’ the cell line and will deposit the lines with EBiSC. Depending on investments of time, expertise and funds the Depositor may be the organisation that carried out the reprogramming to create the iPSC line, the party conducting further work such as gene editing to generate a variant of the line, the party who collected the original tissue sample from which the iPSC line was derived or perhaps a third party who has commissioned one of the others to undertake such work.
Deposition of cell lines into the EBiSC catalogue is a voluntary contribution which does not carry any explicit financial or commercial advantage. If a User of an EBiSC line should foresee commercial activity involving a banked cell line, i.e. activities that fall outside the scope of ‘research use’ as defined in the EBiSC Access & Use Agreement, then the User would have all the necessary information to contact a Depositor to obtain permission or licensing arrangements in order to support any such activity.
No. If however, you have an obligation to a third party that cannot be waived, or one that requires that it be passed on to the end user of the cell line, then this ‘Third Party Obligation’ must be identified clearly in the EBiSC Access & Use Agreement. ‘TPO’s would include, for example, ‘reach through’ intellectual property rights of a patent holder, or the limitations imposed by a tissue donor regarding use of their samples in a specific field of research.