2009-02-28.htm

BioBanks

The Choice is Yours

Biweekly column by Gregor Wolbring

February 28th 2009

http://politicsofhealth.org/wol/2009-02-28.htm

According to BioBank central: “Biobanks are a critical resource for such molecular-based biomedical research. The data, biospecimens – such as tissue or blood – and molecular components that they collect, test for quality, and then distribute to researchers are absolute requirements in the pathway to developing modern diagnostics and cures for human disease.” Biobanks or Biorepositories are defined as "A building, room, or container where biospecimens are stored, either for clinical or research purposes. A biorepository can be a formal organization or an informal collection of materials in a scientist's freezer." Many different Biobanks exist. There is the P³G Observatory run by the P3g consortium. The Public Population Project in Genomics (P³G) according to their webpage, “ is a not-for-profit and non-commercial organization whose objective is to promote collaboration between researchers in the field of population genomics. P³G seeks to foster collaboration, optimize design, promote harmonization of biobanks, and facilitate transfer of knowledge. The P³G aspires to the highest standards of ethical comportment and research integrity. It has adopted a Charter of Fundamental Principles that underpins its activities”. The P³G Observatory, “is a central Internet repository of scientific information and tools aimed at facilitating the development, realization and harmonization of research projects”. It includes a series of Catalogues documenting large population-based biobanks worldwide, the DataSHaPER, a series of tools to design questionnaires, and other data-collection devices, the Repository of Information and Tools for accessing reference scientific and technical information across biobanking domains of activities and the Cores and Foundation Projects interface. Biobanks exist in many countries. Sweden, Australia and Canada just three examples. An International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories exists. As its webpage states. “ISBER, the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories, is a division of the American Society for Investigative Pathology. Based out of Rockville, Maryland, and founded in 2000, ISBER’s main goal is to provide information and guidance on the safe and effective management of biological and environmental specimen collections “. Their webpage has a bibliography which covers the establishing of tissue banks, informed consent issues, privacy and confidentiality issues, IRB review of tissue banking protocols, pharmacogenomics, collection and use of samples from newborns, commercial Biobanks, international resources, and books. Many conferences around Biobanks exist like here, here, here and here. Conferences may cover biological materials of all kind of forms such as plants, seeds and animals. Regarding humans different parts can be banked such as cord blood, cancer, and other human tissues (here and here),to just name a few. The Human BioBank cDNA is an additional useful resource.

Various ethical and other evaluations of Biobanks exist such as here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here .

The Choice is Yours

As usual it’s up to you to monitor the advances and voice your opinions.

All of the "The Choice is Yours" articles can be found here.

Gregor Wolbring is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary. He is Affiliated Scholar, Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University, USA; Part Time Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa Canada; Adjunct Faculty Critical Disability Studies, York University, Canada. He is a science and technology governance scholar, a disability/vari-ability/ability studies scholar, and a health policy and science and technology studies researcher. He is a member of the Center for Nanotechnology and Society at Arizona State University. He is the Chair of the Bioethics Taskforce of Disabled People's International. He publishes the Bioethics, Culture and Disability website, authors a weblog on NBICS and its social implications and on Ableism and Ability Ethics and Governance and contributes to the What Sorts of People blog.