Challenges in Biobanking: Underutilization of Samples
When it comes to predictions, I agree with Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr: "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future”. Nevertheless, I dare to predict that there will be some consolidation in biobanks in the next...
Cold Chain Best Laboratory Practices for Biobanking
I always understood that a biobank is not an investigation laboratory practice but rather an investigative support service. For this reason, process control is a requirement for any installations where biological samples are collected, processed, stored, and distributed.
To have...
Biobanking Knowledge and Practical Skills Delivered Through E-learning-based Master’s Program
Article contributed by Gabriele Hartl, Christine Mitchell, Tanja Macheiner, Brigitte Jaksa, Berthold Huppertz and Karine Sargsyan, at Medical University of Graz.
Background
With the development of modern biobanks, the need for multidisciplinary and qualified personnel has increased. Working in such an environment...
Importance of Cooperation Between Academic Biobanks and Biomedical Industry for Accelerating Personalized Medicine
Biological material and comprehensive data are referred as the fundamental resource for the progress in life science research, development of novel biotechnology methods along with investigations focused on new therapies. In this field, biobanks play a crucial role through...
Future Direction of Biobanking
Columns like this one is a great opportunity to share some thoughts with the biobanking community and get some feedback. This helps identifying those relevant to the biobankers and those that are not so relevant. Please continue to reach...
Defining biobanks: To be or not to be…… what was the question?
“Is a biobank a facility or research project?” This was a question asked in an international biobanking community forum back in April 2021. Answers were equivocal with many respondents taking an each way bet saying ‘both’. But this is...
Unlocking the Future: Evolution and Impact of Biobanking Networks in the Next Decade
Over the next 3, 5, and 10 years, biobanking networks are expected to have a significant impact across various areas, including human biomedical research and healthcare, environmental protection, food sciences, animal welfare, or artificial intelligence-driven solutions. As research methodologies...
Do We Need Biobankers at All?
No one can tell the number of biobanks worldwide. Several years ago, I was involved in a survey at a university center in Switzerland. We wanted to find out how many biobanks there were in this center. A biobank...
Are You Just Seeking Approval: Digging Deep into Biobanking Ethics
This is going to be a bit deep, but bear with me...
Biobankers are interested in ethics. To manage our tissue collections we need either approval by an ‘Ethics Board’ or we operate as part of a regulatory system used...
What can Biobanks Learn From the Current Pandemic?
More than a year ago, something happened that most of us could hardly imagine. A virus took the whole world more or less firmly in its grip. Pandemic, previously a word that very few of us knew, has now...
