A biobank is a type of biorepository which stores human biological samples for use in research. Since the late 1990s biobanks have become a key resource for supporting many types of contemporary research, such as genomics and personalized medicine.
Biobanks allow researchers to analyze data representing larger numbers of individual people than could be analyzed in any previously used system, and furthermore, the same samples in biobanks and the data derived from those samples can often be used by multiple researchers for multiple purposes. Many diseases are associated with single-nucleotide polymorphisms and using genome-wide association studies to study such biomarkers is often a goal of biobank research. Before the advent of biobanks, many researchers could only use samples and data that they themselves collected, and sharing specimens was difficult.
Communities have responded to the use of biobanks by starting discussions on research ethics and medical ethics. There is universal consensus that biobanks promote good research and also that using biobanks without good governing principles could have negative consequences for communities who participate in biobank programs. There are differing viewpoints on what constitutes appropriate biobank ethics.
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Previous to the late 1990s, when scientists wanted biological specimens they collected them for their own laboratory and did not have a particular goal of routinely sharing their specimens with other laboratories.[1] When researching genetic disorders, scientists would only look at genes which they expected were associated with disease, for example only looking for BRCA mutation for breast cancer.[1]
By the late 1990s it became apparent to scientists that although many diseases had a genetic component contribute to their cause, few diseases are caused by only a single defective gene and most genetic diseases are caused by multiple genetic components on multiple genes.[1] Because the strategy of looking only at single genes was ineffective for finding the genetic components of many diseases, and because new technology made the cost of examining a single gene versus doing a genome-wide scan about the same, scientists began collecting much larger amounts of genetic information when any was to be collected at all.[1] At the same time technological advances also made it possible for wide sharing of information, so when data was collected, many scientists doing genetics work found that access to data from genome-wide scans collected for any one reason would actually be useful in many other types of genetic research.[1] Whereas before data usually stayed in one laboratory, now scientists began to store large amounts of genetic data in single places for community use and sharing.[1]
An immediate result of doing genome-wide scans and sharing data was the discovery of many single-nucleotide polymorphisms, with an early success being an improvement from the identification of about 10,000 of these with single-gene scanning and before biobanks versus 500,000 by 2007 after the genome-wide scanning practice had been in place for some years.[1] A problem remained; this changing practice allowed the collection of genotype data, but it did not simultaneously come with a system to gather the related phenotype data.[1] Whereas genotype data comes from a biological specimen like a blood sample, phenotype data has to come from examining a specimen donor with an interview, physical assessment, review of medical history, or some other process which could be difficult to arrange.[1] Even when this data was available, there were ethical uncertainties about the extent to which and the ways in which patient rights could be preserved by connecting it to genotypic data.[1] The institution of the biobank began to be developed to store genotypic data, associate it with phenotypic data, and make it more widely available to researchers who needed it.[1]
In 2008 United States researchers stored 270 million specimens in biobanks, and the rate of new sample collection was 20 million per year.[2] These numbers are large and representative of a fundamental worldwide change in the nature of research between the time when such numbers of samples could not be used and the time when researchers began demanding them.[2] Collectively, researchers began to progress beyond single-center research centers to a next-generation qualitatively different research infrastructure.[3] Some of the challenges raised by the advent of biobanks are ethical, legal, and social issues pertaining to their existence, including the fairness of collecting donations from vulnerable populations, providing informed consent to donors, the logistics of data disclosure to participants, the right to ownership of intellectual property, and the privacy and security of donors who participate.[2] Because of these new problems, researchers and policymakers began to require new systems of research governance.[3]
Many researchers have identified biobanking as a key area for infrastructure development in order to promote drug discovery and drug development.[4]
The term "biobank" has been used in different ways[5] but one way is to define it as "an organized collection of human biological material and associated information stored for one or more research purposes".[4][6] Collections of plant, animal, microbe, and other nonhuman materials may also be described as biobanks but in some discussions the term is reserved for human specimens.[4]
Biobanks usually incorporate cryogenic storage facilities for the samples.[7] They may range in size from individual refrigerators to warehouses, and are maintained by institutions such as hospitals, universities, nonprofit organizations, and pharmaceutical companies.[7]
Biobanks may be classified by purpose or design. Disease-oriented biobanks usually have a hospital affiliation through which they collect samples representing a variety of diseases, perhaps to look for biomarkers affiliated with disease.[8] Population-based biobanks need need no particular hospital affiliation because they samples from large numbers of all kinds of people, perhaps to look for biomarkers for disease susceptibility in a general population.[9]
The collection which a biobank stores and makes available are its specimens taken by sampling. Specimen types include blood, urine, skin cells, organ tissue, and other things taken from a body. The biobank keeps these specimens in good condition until a researcher needs them to conduct a test, do an experiment, or perform an analysis.
A common test done with specimens is a genome-wide association study and often specimens which are suitable for this kind of research are suitable for many others.
Biobanks, like other DNA databases, must carefully store and document access to samples and donor information.[10] The samples must be maintained reliably with minimal deterioration over time, and they must be protected from physical damage, both accidental and intentional. The registration of each sample entering and exiting the system is centrally stored, usually on a computer-based system that can be backed up frequently.[10] The physical location of each sample is noted to allow the rapid location of specimens. Archival systems de-identify samples to respect the privacy of donors and allow blinding of researchers to analysis.[10] The database, including clinical data, is kept separately with a secure method to link clinical information to tissue samples.[10] Room temperature storage of samples is sometimes used, and was developed in response to perceived disadvantages of low-temperature storage, such as costs and potential for freezer failure.[10] Current systems are small and are capable of storing nearly 40,000 samples in about one tenth of the space required by a −80 °C (−112 °F) freezer. Replicates or split samples are often stored in separate locations for security.[10]
One controversy of large databases of genetic material is the question of ownership of samples. As of 2007, Iceland had three different laws on ownership of the physical samples and the information they contain.[11] Icelandic law holds that the Icelandic government has custodial rights of the physical samples themselves while the donors retain ownership rights.[11] In contrast, Tonga and Estonia give ownership of biobank samples to the government, but their laws include strong protections of donor rights.[11]
The key event which arises in biobanking is when a researcher wants to collect a human specimen for research. When this happens, some issues which arise include the following: right to privacy for research participants, ownership of the specimen and its derived data, the extent to which the donor can share in the return of the research results, and the extent to which a donor is able to consent to be in a research study.[12]
Biobanks need ethical oversight from an independent reviewer and the governance process is intended to be public. For many types of research, and particularly medical research, oversight comes at the local level from an institutional review board. Institutional review boards typically enforce standards set by their country's government. To different extents, the law used by different countries is often modeled on biobank governance recommendations which have been internationally proposed.
There is no internationally-accepted set of governance guidelines which are designed to work with biobanks. Biobanks typically try to adapt to the broader recommendations of guidelines which are internationally accepted for human subject research, and use changing guidelines as they become accepted.
Some examples of organizations which participated in creating written guidelines about biobanking are the following[5]: World Medical Association, Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, Council of Europe, Human Genome Organisation, World Health Organization, and UNESCO.
In 1998 the Icelandic Parliament passed the Act on Health Sector Database which allowed for the creation of a national biobank in that country. In 1999 the United States National Bioethics Advisory Commission issued a report containing policy recommendations about handling human biological specimens.[2] In 2005 the United States National Cancer Institute founded the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research so that it could have a division to establish a common database and standard operating procedures for its partner organizations with biospecimen collections.[2] In 2006 the Council of the European Union adopted a policy on human biological specimens which was novel for discussing issues unique to biobanks.[2]
Biobanks by their nature store specimens from human bodies. There have been cases when the ownership of stored specimens has been in dispute and taken to court. Here are some examples of such cases: