Leaders In Biobanking Congress: Unlocking The Potential
July 16, 2018 | This year, the 10th annual Leaders in Biobanking Congress will take place in Cleveland, Ohio from October 14-16. Biomedical and biopharmaceutical researchers, regulators, biorepository managers, and practitioners will converge to discuss the various aims for biospecimen collections, from basic research to clinical trials. Here are just a few of the discussions that will take place during the 3-day conference, highlighting the innovations in biospecimen science and infrastructure to support expanding applications. – The Editors
Diane Leong, Director of Biobanking and Sample Management and Biomarker Science at Gilead Sciences, will provide an overview of one approach for managing sample inventory and associated informed consent materials. Unlocking the potential of biological samples requires tracking of samples and associated data across the span of the sample lifecycle, she will argue. Samples used for biomarker research in biopharmaceutical companies are handled by a number of different functional groups over time, and storage of sample and assay information in databases and other software tools is essential to maximizing their value.
The revisions to the Common Rule published on January 19, 2018 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are set to take effect in July 2018. Abby Statler, Research Regulatory QA Coordinator at the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, will outline the major revisions, specifically focusing on the new and revised definitions, informed consent, and secondary research with identifiable information and biospecimens.
Rebecca Sandlin from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital will discuss the emerging technologies that have enabled the isolation and characterization of rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from the blood of metastatic cancer patients. As CTCs are fragile and difficult to expand in vitro, molecular characterization must be performed immediately following isolation, she will argue. To ease experimental timelines and enable biobanking, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a method to cryopreserve CTCs by ultra-rapid vitrification.
The Cancer Moonshot aims to accelerate cancer research through increased focus on pressing questions in cancer research, including why some patients respond to a particular cancer treatment and some do not. To be able to ask such questions, researchers need access to biospecimens collected from research participants both before and after cancer treatment. The Cancer Moonshot Biobank will develop new approaches to engage with cancer patients over the course of their cancer treatment, collect longitudinal biospecimens and associated data, and distribute the biospecimens and data to qualified researchers. Helen Moore from the National Cancer Institute will discuss the hallmarks of this new program and highlight progress to date.
Focusing on a biobank’s usefulness to particular diseases, Liliana Guedez from the National Eye Institute will discuss how access to high-quality human tissues is one of the roadblocks for advancing clinical research. A demand for a large number of these tissues exists for studying critical eye diseases with unmet therapeutic needs, Guedez says. Rare genetic disorders, autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, and age-related macular degeneration are among leading causes of blindness in the USA. Innovative biobanking approaches are urgently needed for advancing therapies for critical blinding diseases.
The conference will also feature several discussion groups focused on brainstorming and interactive problem solving relating to topics such as Next-Generation Biospecimens for Precision Medicine, Biorepository Best Practices, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations, and more.
