What happens to the results of the research studies?
Researchers who obtain material from the CTB agree to provide the results of their investigation on a case-by-case basis. This information will not be used until after the researchers have published their findings, but it will allow the results of all of the studies to be correlated at a later date, so that, for example, the investigations by different groups of a number of different genes can be correlated to study their interactions. The provision of extracted nucleic acid from thyroid tissue, rather than each researcher being provided with a small piece of tissue maximises the amount of data that can potentially be obtained from a single operative specimen and will enable multiple molecular biological studies to be carried out for each case.
With the launch of the CTB portal researchers wishing to access biomaterials can now select those cases from which they would wish to receive samples. The CTB Data Warehouse, which is in the final stages of development, will allow researchers to upload research data arising from their projects that have used CTB materials, and permit applicants to request access to this data. On-line application for data should be available by the end of 2011. In the meantime, some data has been uploaded into the Data Warehouse and applicants using the CTB portal may elect to view whether or not research data is available for those cases they have selected. Applicants who might be interested in accessing this data in advance of the formal application process becoming available should contact the secretariat.

Where is the CTB located?
The tissue banks are situated in two of the countries most exposed to fallout from Chernobyl; one at the Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism in Kiev, Ukraine and one at the Medical Radiological Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Obninsk in the Russian Federation. Each Bank consents patients and prepares and stores material from its own population. To date each Centre has maintained its own database for the CTB with a secure, integrated database of data from both countries being maintained at the Coordinating Centre at Imperial College, London. Development of a new database and web interface as part of the CTB portal now allows each Centre to log cases centrally so that key information can be made available to researchers while ensuring that each institute has access to the complete data from its own population at any time.

Study cohort
The CTB includes material and information from all patients with thyroid carcinomas and cellular follicular adenomas from the contaminated oblasts of the Russian Federation (Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula and Oryol) and Ukraine (Kiev, Kiev city, Cherkasse, Chernigov, Rovno, Zhitomyr and Sumy) who were born after 26th April 1967 (i.e. aged under 19 at the time of the Chernobyl accident) and operated on or after the 1st October 1998. Detailed standard operating procedures for the collection and documentation of specimens and blood samples have been agreed with professional staff involved in the collection of material, and ethical standards agreed upon with the relevant authorities, conforming to the requirements of each country involved, including those of the funding organisations. Standard operating procedures for collection of information and material have been approved by the relevant Ethical Committees. Each specimen is given a code authorized by the appropriate person responsible for the management of the resource in each of the three countries. The age, sex, date of birth, date of operation, oblast and country of residence are recorded for each specimen stored in the CTB, and are made available to researchers with approved projects receiving material from the bank. Information enabling researchers to identify an individual patient (e.g. name, address etc) is stored separately and password protected, in the Institutes in Ukraine and Russia and is not available to researchers. A subproject to link the large amount of measured or calculated dose measurements, which are available for the populations resident in the affected areas, with cases in the CTB is nearing completion. In future this information will be available to researchers as part of the data set detailed above.