Ethics play an important role in medical research. All research projects on people, especially patients, must be approved by an independent ethics committee. This regulation was triggered by the Tuskegee syphilis experiment carried out in 1932. The ethics committee responsible in the Münster district is the Medical Association of Westphalia-Lippe.

The ZBB has a valid ethics vote from this ethics committee. Thus, all processes within the ZBB are ethically secured and fulfill the moral zeitgeist.

If biomaterials from the ZBB are to be used for research projects, an ethics committee, not necessarily the Medical Association of Westphalia-Lippe, must have approved this project. In this way, the ZBB ensures that all processes, from sampling, to storage, to scientific use, are ethically secured.