Biobanking Science: ISBER Best Practices for Biobanks
Biobanks face the challenge of storing and handling many different types of biological samples. Unlike chemicals, biological samples are living. Therefore, it is much more difficult for biobanks to retain the normal structure and function of biological samples throughout...
Safety for Biobanks: Strategies for Safe COVID-19 Specimens Handling
Sponsored content by The COVID-19 pandemic has spread to almost every country around the world. In less than 4 months, this new disease has affected more than 1,800,000 people and caused almost 120,000 deaths. There are no effective treatments or...
Biobanking Science: Storing Cells at Room Temperature
Cryopreservation is the gold standard method to store biospecimens in biobanking organizations. Cryopreservation usually involves flash freezing samples and storing them at ultra-low temperatures (-160°C to -190°C) to prevent chemical degradation. If biobanking scientists follow strict freezing...
The Importance of Monitoring Biobanking Laboratory Storage
Sponsored content by Challenges with Storage for Biobanking
The storage of highly sensitive materials is an important area to consider for Blood Banks, Tissue Banks, and Biobanks. There are many variables and parameters that must be diligently controlled and monitored at...
Biobanking Science: Lessons from African Biobanks
With the recent advances in genomic sequencing, proteomics and precision medicine, biobanks are becoming more prevalent around the world. So are large-scale population studies such as the UK Biobank.
H3Africa Project and Biobanks
The Human, Hereditary and Health in Africa (H3Africa)...
Biobanking Science: New Non-Toxic Cryoprotectant Solutions
Cell therapy is a rapidly growing field that uses live cells to treat patients. This presents unique biobanking challenges because, unlike traditional pharmaceutical products, cells must be alive and functional to be effective therapeutics. Unless cell therapy cells are...
ISBER Best Practices Recommendations for Biobanks and Biorepositories
Does Your Biorepository Follow ISBER Best Practices Recommendations?
Biorepositories provide essential support to biomedical researchers by collecting, processing, storing and distributing millions of biospecimens every year. Biorepository staff must navigate complex international regulatory rules governing the use of biospecimens and...
Biobanking Science: Metabolomics Biobanks
Metabolomics, an important part of precision medicine, is the study of different metabolites in normal and disease states. Collecting, processing and storing samples for metabolomics studies presents unique challenges for biobanks. Metabolites are small (low molecular weight) and unstable molecules....
Biobanking Science: Growing Liver Organoids From Tumor Biopsies
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer and causes over 700,000 deaths each year (1). The number of HCC cases has dramatically risen over the past two decades due to an increase in infectious hepatitis,...
Biobanking Science: Using FTA Cards to Preserve Nucleic Acids
Biobanking organizations may use a range of different methods to preserve biological samples including cryopreservation, fixation and paraffin-embedding and FTA cards. Biobanking Samples by Cryopreservation Cryopreservation remains the gold standard for long-term biobanking because this method maintains the integrity and biological...
