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The (HT Act) is the legislative framework which governs the storage and use of relevant material from the living and the removal, storage and use of relevant material from the deceased, for a . 

The Act focuses on both consent and licensing, making consent fundamental to the removal, storage and use of human tissue for certain scheduled purposes.

, as defined by the HT Act, is material derived from a human body, other than gametes,* which consists of or includes cells (including bodily waste products).

The following are excluded from the Act:

• Hair and nail from the body of a living person
• Embryos outside the human body*
• Cell lines and other material created outside the human body 
• Any sample that has been processed to render it acellular (e.g. serum and plasma)

*Regulated by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990

A is available from the Human Tissue Authority.  This list is neither exhaustive nor exclusive. Potential users of human tissue are asked to seek guidance from Human Tissue Authority where classification of human tissue is unclear.

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA)

The University has four licences with the Human Tissue Authority with oversight provided by an internal governance framework:

• HTA Research Licence (12561) : Brighton and Sussex Medical School
  Designated Individual:

• HTA Anatomy Licence (12098) : Brighton and Sussex Medical School
  Designated Individual:

• HTA Public Display Licence (12687)
• Designated Individual: 

• HTA Research Licence (12119) : School of Life Sciences:
  Designated Individual: Dr Leandro Castellano

Any planned activity involving the University's Human Tissue Authority licences must be notified in advance to the relevant licensed tissue centres. Note: Tissue held for a specific project currently approved by an NHS Research Ethics Committee does not need to be stored under premises licensed by the Human Tissue Authority.

Any planned activity by University researchers involving the transfer or storage of human tissue outside of the University's HTA licensed centres must be notified in advance to the relevant School HTA Person Designate.

Licensing and consent requirements for human tissue for research

University researchers must take all appropriate steps to ascertain whether any human tissue samples they plan to obtain, use or store need to be held under a HTA licence. Code A () should be read by all researchers at the onset of planning to work with human tissue. All HTA codes were updated in April 2017.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) have a useful site that summarises the HTA legislation with easy to follow . They also have a very useful  module which is free and takes around 40 minutes to complete. It is recommended that anybody doing research with human samples would benefit from taking the time to go through this.

Quality Management System

The University has developed a Quality Management System which includes Standard Operating Procedures and guidance documents to ensure compliance with the HT Act.

These SOPs must be followed by all staff and students working on research projects involving human tissue. 

The most up-to-date versions of the SOPs and other guidance documents can be found below:

• School of Life Sciences and School of Psychology

Contacts and Notifications

Planned activity involving the University's Human Tissue Authority licences must be notified in advance to the relevant contacts below:

Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS):

Dr Natalie Harriman (Person Designate Research) - n.harriman@bsms.ac.uk

Dr Clare Smith (Designated Individual Anatomy) - Prof Clare Smith

School of Life Sciences, School of Psychology :

Dr Rob Fowler (Person Designate - Life Sciences) - r.e.fowler@sussex.ac.uk

Dr Daniel Campbell-Meiklejohn - (Person Designate - Psychology) - daniel.cm@sussex.ac.uk