Terms & Conditions

Our philosophy is very simple. We believe that free communication between the requester and provider of biosamples is vital for a variety of practical, ethical and scientific reasons. Foremost amongst these is the need for biosample traceability which ensures that providers can fulfil their responsibilities as custodians and are aware of the eventual destination samples and the purpose for which they will be used. We also believe that human tissue should be acquired and supplied through non-commercial procedures and for this reason, Biosample Hub has been established as a not-for-profit company and offering full financial transparency to users. 

This  site  is  operated  by Biosample Hub (“Biosample Hub”, “we”, “our” or “us”). Biosample Hub is registered in England and Wales under company number 125147786 and its registered office is at The Old School, The Quay, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, SA31 3LN. We are a private ‘not for profit’ company, limited by guarantee, without share capital. We have exemption from use of ‘Limited’ in our title.

These general Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) are an agreement (“Agreement”) between you and us and covers your use of our site including use of its information, data and services provided and made available through Biosample Hub’s website (the “Website”, “site”). By using the Website, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms and Conditions, you must not use our site. You also confirm your acceptance and choices in our Cookie Policy.

Can we draw your attention to the indemnity that you provide under “Disclaimer, exclusion of liability and indemnity” below as consequence of your use or alleged misconduct in your use of the Website.

Biosample Hub reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions from time to time. When visiting this site please check for any amendments since your last visit as to your use of the Website. Your continued use of the Website is confirmation by you of your acceptance of any amendments to the Terms and your agreement to comply with them.

The views and opinions of expressed by groups or individuals that appear on this site are not, and should not be, taken to be our views or endorsed or supported by us unless expressly stated to be so. Contributors are entitled, subject to law, to express their own views and opinions which may vary from ours.

In no event will Biosample Hub be liable to you for any loss or damage, howsoever caused,  arising under or in connection with use of this Website or use of or reliance on any content on our site, including, without limitation, any indirect or consequential loss or damage, loss of profits, loss of business,  revenue, or  anticipated savings, loss or business opportunity or goodwill, or loss to reputation or business interruption.

The content of the Website is provided for information purposes only and you should not rely upon it in making or refraining from making any decision or in taking or refraining from taking any action. Put simply we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the information on this site is free from technical inaccuracies or  typographical  errors  or  that  the content is accurate, complete or up to date. We are not liable for any error or omission in, or any failure to update, the information on this site and any decisions based on the information are your sole responsibility. You agree that the Website is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. You agree that we shall not be liable to you or to any other person in the event that all or any part of the Website is discontinued, modified or changed in any way.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold non-liable all officers, employees and agents of Biosample Hub from any and all losses, liabilities, claims, damages, expenses or costs asserted by any third party in connection with your use or alleged misconduct in your use of the Website.

The discussion platform and other uploaded content is provided for convenience of exchange and to make your visit a richer experience. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and not to be taken as ours or endorsed by us. We welcome honest exchange including robust comment but our discussion forum and any uploads must not be used to display any content or material which:

• is in contravention of the prevailing laws of England and Wales  or which incites or encourages others to contravene such laws
• is racist, sexist, homophobic, pornographic, obscene, profane, vulgar, lewd, or defamatory of any person, entity or organisation
• is otherwise abusive, threatening, bullying, or otherwise would be likely to be harm, unfairly offend, or harass other visitors, users, and readers of the Website
• breaches the rights of others including any copyright or other intellectual property rights.

Any report of such a breach will be investigated and if a breach is found we reserve the right to suspend or delete your account including your account being blocked from accessing the Website. We also reserve the right to suspend, delete and block the account of any user, or otherwise edit material including any message, without limitation, which in our opinion contravenes the conduct of lawful and fair exchange.

We do expect most contributors to the discussion forum to adhere to friendly but perhaps robust banter. That is fine. However, we do ask that you to report to us any content that you find to be in contravention of any of the matters listed above. Please leave your message on our Contact Us page. Your report will be looked into as quickly as possible and appropriate action taken.

Biosample Hub is the owner of  all intellectual property rights in this site, and in the material published on it.

We grant individual users of the Website a non-exclusive personal license to view and copy the material on the Website solely for personal and non-commercial use. You may download extracts of any page(s) from our site for your personal use but unauthorised use is not allowed.

We are happy for you to use excerpts and links can be used providing that complete and clear credit is given to Biosample Hub with linkage and direction to us.

Should you wish to use any content on our site for commercial purposes you must contact us and obtain a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

The Website contains links to and content from other internet sites and resources. We have no control over such content and you agree that, without limitation, Biosample Hub is not responsible for such content. We can not endorse products or services offered by third parties through such content. 

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or other harmful programs or material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorized access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service  attack  or  a  distributed  denial-of-service attached. 

Please be aware that by breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer  Misuse Act 1990. We  will report any breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co- operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

Visitors, contributors and users should carefully read any special terms that apply to their particular use of items or features of the Website. These are referred to in their respective pages and are to be taken to form part of these terms (as if set out in full herein) of use.

By submitting information to the Website, you agree that we have full rights to use such information in the same manner as if you had granted us a full and irrevocable right to do so whilst protecting any data that requires   protection and confidentiality and is not shared publicly.  Please refer to our Privacy Policy on how we manage and protect your data under the GDPR and any other relevant laws.

If any of these Terms and Conditions should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by reason of the laws of any state or country in which these Terms and Conditions are intended to be effective, then to the extent to and within the jurisdiction in which that Term and Condition is illegal, invalid and unenforceable, it shall be severed and deleted from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining Terms and Conditions shall survive, remain in full force and continue to be binding and enforceable.

As a user of this site (in any capacity) please note that these Terms and Conditions, their subject matter and their formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims), are governed by English law and that the courts of England and Wales  have exclusive jurisdiction in the event of any dispute and/or legal proceedings, including any codes, duties or obligations on parties to mediate and attempt alternative dispute resolution that may prevail at the point of any dispute.