Abstract
Biobanks are incredible natural treasures that in the age of personalized medicine and cost effective scaled multi-omic interrogation have become front and center in enabling the clinical and research enterprise. Despite this recognition, significant challenges exist in their operations. Traditional tissue banking Life cycle is summarized: Patient identification, consent, acquisition (generic/project specific), storage, processing, annotation, cohort identification for research and disbursal of tissues and related products and tracking/linkage to other resources containing data and material. Select topics in a banks practical operations will be briefly discussed including: 1. Not “normalizing” the description of these incredible treasures of nature, 2. Viewing them through the prism of their short and long term value, 3. Importance of scale and diversity, 4. Combined clinical and research utility, 5. Need to expand beyond operating room based collection to anywhere, anytime any analyte, 6. Distinguishing between and enabling population level collection and project and patient specific collection processes and its application to underrepresented populations, 7. Defining/identifying key skills required for its operating personnel, 8. Financial model beyond institutional and fee for service- need to nestle in an income generating facility and providing banking complimentary services, 9. Need for next generation platform to close gaps by reducing barriers to research, 10. Increase utilization and enable a collaboration platform, and 11. Procurement versus traditional banking function: supporting fresh tissue collection not for banking but PDX, organoids, single cell work, 12. Dedicated versus “Federated” system of operations. The above will enable successful implementation of biobanking operations and or their optimization.
Citation Format: Hanina Hibshoosh. Practical considerations in setting up a biobank [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2021 Oct 6-8. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr IA-11.