Medicine

Contact Us School of Medicine
Level 1
Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute
Trinity College
152-160 Pearse Street
Dublin 2

View the contact page for more contact and location information

medadmin@tcd.ie

RITA-Ireland Vasculitis RIV Registry and Biobank

The RKD Registry and Biobank was established in 2012  to address an unmet need in the study of rare kidney disease in Ireland: facilitation of clinical studies when sporadic cases are scattered throughout many hospitals in Ireland. Existing centre-based research facilities had served this need poorly, and a networked collaboration across all the CRFs in the country  provided vastly improved potential for the capture of presentations nationally.  The majority of recruits have the rare disease ANCA vasculitis. Irish registry database with the pan-UK UKIVAS initiative In 2022, the RKD Registry and Biobank was renamed the RITA-Ireland Vasculitis (RIV) Registry and Biobank after joining ERN-RITA.  

 

RKD Kidney Disease and Biobank Protocol V8 (PDF 1.05 MB)

Sample Processing Quick Card (PDF 235 kB)

Protocol IIb BDP100 (PDF 107 kB)

Appendix 1 Paxgene (PDF 628 kB)

Appendix II P100 (PDF 2 MB)

Appendix IV Specific Information Tallaght Research Labs v2 (PDF 789 kB) 

 

EUVAS Data Dictonary (PDF 0.5MB)

Sample Processing Sheet (PDF 137 kB)

Sample Processing Lab Handbook (PDF 638 kB)

BIOMNIS Ireland Booking Form -RKD (doc 23 kB)

 

St. James's and Tallaght University Hospital Recruitment Documentation:

Beaumont Hospital Recruitment Documentation

Cork Teaching Hospitals Recruitment Documentation

Mater Hospital Recruitment Documentation

St. Vincent's Recruitment Documentation

Limerick Hospital Recruitment Documentation

Galway Hospital Recruitment Documentation

 

The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to explain to you, our participants, how we collect share and use the personal information about you which forms the  the RIV Registry and Biobank resource.  We are required to provide the information set out below in accordance with the Irish Health Research Regulations. 

Fundamentally, we should like to assure you that we will only process, store and use your data in a manner that is consistent with the basis on which you joined  the RIV Registry and Biobank (as described in the information leaflet and consent form). This Privacy Notice sets out the types of data we have collected from you and how and by whom that data is used. It also sets out the lawful basis on which we process your data, your rights as a data subject and your rights to withdraw from  the RIV Registry and Biobank.

We would also emphasise that wherever possible your data is de-identified such that direct and indirect identifiers are removed. We only use identifiable data where necessary: for example when we contact you with a participant newsletter or to advise you about a clinical trial we feel may be of interest to you.

 

Participant Information leaflet and Consent Form

Data privacy impact assessment

Withdrawal form

The types of data  the RIV Registry and Biobank processes

What personal information does RKD Biobank collect?

 The RIV Registry and Biobank collects personal information about you from two sources (1) directly from you and (2) through linkage to your health records. These are explained in more detail below:

Data collected directly from you

Initial Collection

When you were recruited to join  the RIV Registry and Biobank you will have visited an  the RIV Registry and Biobank research clinic and provided some data about yourself - this will have included measures such as your weight, height and biological samples such as blood and urine. Any identifiable data obtained at recruitment is held separately on a separate log to which only the relevant research nurse and site investigator have access.

Ongoing collection

Following the original recruitment  The RIV Registry and Biobank has continued to collect more data on a periodic basis, such as:

  • data collected when participants attend a study clinic or hospital
  • data collected through participants completing online questionnaires
  • data collected from assays performed on the samples you provided  

Data generation

With the data and samples that you provide us we can generate further data to enhance our database, particularly from undertaking assays of the samples. This includes, by way of example, biomarkers - which include common biomarkers, such as cholesterol, infectious disease markers, proteomic and metabolomic markers - and genetic data (ranging from genotype to exome sequence to whole genome sequence).  All assay work is conducted in a manner whereby the participant remains de-identified.

Further, all our approved researchers are also obliged to return the results which underpin their research at the end of their research project. In turn these results are made available for other researchers to access.

Who does RKD Biobank share my data with?

Access to your data is strictly limited to:

  • the study site/hospital where you are seen for your clinical care;
  • Approved researchers whose research project has been approved under our Access Procedures, which means that the researcher has to be a bona fide researcher and enter into a bilateral agreement with TCD. If you would like more information about the approved research projects which have access to  RIV Registry and Biobank data, please click the link below.

The RIV Registry and Biobank’s lawful basis for processing your data

A legal requirement of  the RIV Registry and Biobank is that we tell you about the legal basis on which we will process your personal data.

As  the RIV Registry and Biobank is a research project, consent was sought from all participants for their participation. . Through the information leaflet and consent form  the RIV Registry and Biobank set out to explain the basis of such participation and a summary of the scope to which participant data would be used by  the RIV Registry and Biobank and the research community.

The legal basis under which we process your data is:

  • Article 6(1)(e) - Public Interest and
  • Article 9(2)(j) Scientific Research

Explicit consent is sought as an appropriate safeguard to rights of the data subject as mandated by the Health Research Regulations.

Pursuant to the Health Research Regulations individuals have a number of rights:

Rights to be forgotten, erasure and withdrawal: these rights are covered by your ability to withdraw from the RIV Registry and Biobank at any time for any reason (although we should add that we very much hope that you choose not to exercise that right so that your data can continue to be used to help researchers study the causes, prevention and treatment of many different diseases).

Participants have the right to contact, at any time, the RIV’s data protection authority – the Irish Data Protection Commission - if they have any concerns about  the RIV Registry and Biobank’s use of personal data and/or  approach to data protection and the Health Research Regulations.

The RIV Registry and Biobank and its appointed data processors store your data securely and to the highest industry and professional standards. Before  the RIV Registry and Biobank provides data to researchers, we first remove all the personal identifiers so that individual participants cannot easily be identified. In addition, your data are only provided to researchers on the execution of a legal agreement prohibiting the researcher from trying to identify a participant.

Only a very limited number of people working in  the RIV Registry and Biobank centres have access to participants’ data with the personal identifiers (which is necessary in order to allow us to interact with you and add more information about each participant as it becomes available). These individuals are subject to strict confidentiality provisions and are required to undertake regular data security training.

Retention of data The RIV Registry and Biobank will store participants’ data for as long as it has a legitimate interest in doing so.  The RIV Registry and Biobank project is a long-term study and participants’ data will be kept for the duration of the project. However, should a participant wish to leave  the RIV Registry and Biobank they can do so at any time.

International Data Transfers and industry engagement

Our objective is to set up and manage a major research resource for health-related research that is in the public interest. We aim to understand the causes of rare autoimmune diseases, develop precision medicine technologies, and provide the foundation for development of novel therapies. Engagement with international collaborators is an essential part of this journey; sometimes these collaborators are in the non-academic (industry) domain. Our engagement with them is always defined using a formal bilateral agreement that determines what they are allowed to do with the samples and data, ensuring that they are used to further the public interest mission of  the RIV Registry and Biobank.  The RIV Registry and Biobank’s main computer storage is located in Trinity College. Approved researchers and  the RIV Registry and Biobank’s other third-party service providers operate around the world. This means that your data may be processed in these countries. Nevertheless, we take the appropriate safeguards to ensure that your personal information will remain protected in accordance with this Privacy Notice. Such safeguards include mechanisms approved by the Health Research Regulations such as Standard Contractual Clauses and data transfers to countries covered by an “adequacy decision”.

Trinity College has a research Data Protection Officer ("DPO") who can be contacted with any questions or concerns relating to  the RIV Registry and Biobank’s approach to data protection and the Health Research Regulations. Please write to the DPO using researchDPO@tcd.ie or via post: Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40.

You are free to withdraw at any time from the study without giving us a reason. You are welcome to discuss concerns with us at any time, and the various options you have for withdrawal.

Participants can withdraw at one of two levels:

No further access

This means that the RIV Registry and Biobank would no longer contact the participant or obtain further information from health records in the future, but still has permission to use the information and samples provided previously. You need to contact the RIV Registry and Biobank by phoning 01 896 4810, email us at rkdbiobank@tcd.ie, or you can send us a letter at the address on this page to request a Withdrawal Form.

No further use

In addition to no longer contacting the participant or obtaining further information, any information and samples collected previously would no longer be available to researchers.  The RIV Registry and Biobank would destroy samples (although it may not be possible to trace all distributed sample remnants) and would only hold information for archival audit purposes. Such a withdrawal would prevent information about the participant from contributing to further research, but it would not be possible to remove data from research that had already taken place. You need to contact the RIV Registry and Biobank by phoning 01 896 4810, email us at rkdbiobank@tcd.ie, or you can send us a letter at the address on this page to request a Withdrawal Form.

The RIV Registry and Biobank contact details

If you want to contact  the RIV Registry and Biobank you can do so as follows:

Email; rkdbiobank@tcd.ie

Phone: +353 1 896 4810

 

You can write to  the RIV Registry and Biobank at:

The RITA-Ireland Vasculitis (RIV) Registry and Biobank:

Trinity  Kidney Centre,

Lab 1.06,

Trinity Translational Medicine Institute,

St James’ Hospital,

Dublin 8,

D08 W9RT,

Ireland. 

 

You can also contact  the RIV Registry and Biobank DPO at any time using the contact details set out in the DPO box above.

 

 

Downloads for potential collaborators 

 

Number of recruits to RIV Registry and Biobank since inception; many have multiple longitudinal samples at different stages of the disease 

Biological samples (serum, proteomic grade plasma, urine, leucocytes, RNA and DNA) are processed and stored centrally in the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute in temperature monitored freezers, with archiving managed using industry standard Freezerworks software. All aliquots are bar coded and mapped to the freezer location. Linked clinical data are recorded by local clinician and research nurse on a web-accessed database on the REDCap platform developed and managed by Trinity Research IT. Every aliquot has a clearly documented provenance. 

The facility is managed by Dr Alan Kennedy. For further information, or to inquire about potential projects or collaborations, please contact; rkdbiobank@tcd.ie or +353 1 896 4810 

Postal Address 

The RITA-Ireland (RIV) Registry and Biobank 
Trinity Health Kidney Centre,  
Lab 1.06,  
Trinity Translational Medicine Institute,  
St James’ Hospital, 
Dublin 8,  
D08 W9RT,  
Ireland.