BioBank Central in the News

FasterCures launches podcast on the importance of biobanks
August 2007: In the third episode of the FasterCures podcast series, Greg Simon, President of FasterCures, examines the critical role biobanks play in providing the medical research community with biospecimens and quality clinical data necessary for the discovery of new cures and treatments.

Vital Ingredients
R & D Directions - November, 2006: Rapid advances in the techniques and tools used for drug development have placed a premium on the banks of tissue samples and information used in the process. Lyle Fitzsimmons reports on the debate regarding if and how biobanks should be shared by researchers. Greg Simon, president, FasterCures, offers his input on the subject and BioBank Central is cited as an accurate and timely resource for knowledge and news about biorepositories and their role in research and drug development. (subscription required)

Returns on Investments
R & D Directions - November, 2006: Greg Simon, president, FasterCures, was featured in a question and answer session regarding the issues surrounding biobanks, including the impact they will have on personalized medicine and companion diagnostics, the idea of centralizing biobanks, and the ethical issues surrounding the collection of data. (subscription required)

Patients With Rare Diseases Work to Jump-Start Research
The Wall Street Journal - July 11, 2006: BioBank Central was mentioned in this report by Amy Dockser Marcus on the surge of biobanks, particularly those run by patient advocacy groups. (subscription required)

Related Articles

Midwest women step up to fight breast cancer
WFIE – June 25, 2008: More than 70 women from Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky traveled together to Indianapolis to donate breast tissue samples to the Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank at the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center. Some women had histories of breast cancer, while others did not – their samples will be used in studies to better understand 'normal' breast tissue and the tipping point to cancer.

Canada launches nationwide banking study to identify cancer precursors
Science – June 20, 2008: Paul Webster reports in Science on The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project, a trial that will collect multiple specimens from participants over 30 years to generate a comprehensive data set to identify cancer risks and markers. (login required)

Indiana University will host new gene therapy biorepository
Medical News Today – June 20, 2008: Medical News Today reports that the United States' first Gene Vector Biorepository for gene therapy research will open at Indiana University under a 3-year grant from NIH.

University of Manchester secures funding for infrastructure to link European biobanks
Alpha Galileo – June 19, 2008: The Centre for Integrated Genomic Medical Research (CIGMR) at University of Manchester has received funding from the European Union to construct the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI), which will link new and existing biobanks across the continent.

Luxembourg to develop national biobank
New Europe – June 16, 2008: The government of Luxembourg announced that it will support the creation of a national biobank and affiliated research centers at the University of Luxembourg. The initiative will be supported by strategic partnerships with three US research institutions: TGen, Institute for Systems Biology, and Partnership for Personalized Medicine.

Biobanking for "Childhood Alzheimer's" Patients
Addiandcassi.com – June 11, 2008: Chris, a patient advocate and mother to two children with Niemann-Pick Type C disease, blogs on the role of biobanks in finding a cure and her family's experience with the Coriell Institute for Medical Research biobank in Camden, New Jersey.

GenoLogics and GenVault announce partnership on BioVault for biospecimen data management
LIMS – May 27, 2008: The new program built by GenoLogics is a biospecimen data management system that will fully integrate with GenVault's biospecimen consumable, hardware and software technologies.

Coordination between biobanks urgently needed
European Science Foundation – May 27, 2008: The European Science Foundation calls for greater coordination and harmonization between European biobanks to accelerate gains from research and ensure consistency in legal and ethical regulations.

Banking stem cells could lead to medical breakthroughs
MSNBC – May 23, 2008: MSNBC.com reports on the importance of stem cell banks to disease research.

Researchers propose unique identifiers for tracing biobanks
Journal of the American Medical Association – May 23, 2008: In a Commentary in this week's JAMA, European researchers propose a numerical tracing system for biobanks similar to the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). Numerical identifiers to track banks and the studies in which their samples are used would optimize the way banked specimens are sought, studied, and referenced in the literature. (subscription required).
Read a related article from Medical News Today

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) signed into law
Medical News Today – May 22, 2008: The new legislation protects individuals from discrimination by employers, clinicians and health insurers on the basis of genetic information.
Read the full text of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.

FasterCures blogs the ISBER 2008 Annual Meeting
FasterCures – May 21, 2008: The International Society for Biologic and Environmental Repositories held its 2008 annual conference in Bethesda, Maryland, May 18-21. The conference's topic was "Global Biobanking Collaborations: Challenges & Opportunities."

Korean Ministry of Health announces nationwide human body resource database
Chosun – April 28, 2008: The Korean bank will collect blood, tissue, cells, DNA, and pathogenic microbes of 500,000 people to support genomic studies and development of new treatments.

Book Release: "Biobanks: Governance in Comparative Perspective" by Herbe Gottweis
Amazon.com – April 28, 2008: This book focuses on the idea "that biobanks are a phenomenon that cannot be disconnected from considerations of power, politics, and the reshaping of current practices in governance."

UK Biobank recruits its 100,000th donor
NHS Networks – April 24, 2008: The nationwide UK biobanking project has recruited its 100,00th donor in exactly one year since its inception; the ambitious project seeks to recruit 500,000 donors by 2010.

Oregonians weigh in on genetic biobanking at NIH Town Hall Meeting
The Oregonian – April 24, 2008: National Institutes of Health and the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins is seeking input on prospect of an American national biobank through a series of town hall meetings. An April 24th meeting in Portland, OR, is the fourth of five planned sessions.
Learn more about the event.

Phoenix residents invited to town hall meeting on proposed national biobank
The Arizona Republic – April 3, 2008: National Institutes of Health and the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins is seeking input on prospect of an American national biobank through a series of town hall meetings. An April 5th meeting in Phoenix, AZ is the second of five planned sessions.

Proposal for all-Ireland cancer biobank
Independent – March 20, 2008: Summary of the all-Ireland cancer biobank proposal and the Biobank Ireland Trust.

Call for centralization and harmonization of US biobanks in JAMA
Journal of the American Medical Association – March 19, 2008: Fully leveraging the potential of biobanks in disease research and discovery of treatments requires addressing the decentralization of and lack of standardization for biorepositories in the US. (subscription required)

Researchers compare UK and US physicians' attitudes towards DNA biobanking
Journal of American Medical Informatics Association – February 28, 2008: In a study published in J Am Med Inform Assoc., Vanderbilt researchers found that physicians' attitudes in both countries were highly favorable towards the value of DNA biobanks, but that concerns existed, particularly among the UK doctors, about the feasibility of obtaining patient consent and participation. (subscription required)
Click here to read the abstract.

Body of Research – Ownership and Use of Human Tissue
The New England Journal of Medicine – October 12, 2006: This editorial by R. Alta Charo, J.D., professor of law and bioethics at the School of Law and the School of Medicine, University of Washington, Madison, discusses the debate over patients' ownership rights to donated biospecimens based on the 1988 Moore v. Regents case and the 2006 William Catalona v Washington University case.

New tissue banks to standardise cancer samples
Cancer Research UK - October 10, 2006: A new consortium of banks to store biological samples for cancer research has been announced at the National Cancer Research Institute Cancer Conference in Birmingham. The Confederation of Cancer Biobanks (CCB) will work toward common standards and practices and tackle other issues affecting cancer research using human samples. It will lead, for the first time in the U.K., to the use of common standards for the custodianship of the precious cancer tissues that patients donate. Membership will be open to any institution that manages a cancer tissue bank and is willing to adopt the common standards and practices used by CCB members.

Biobank set for national roll out
BBC News - August 21, 2006: In the largest study into the genetic and environmental causes of disease, the UK Biobank aims to obtain DNA samples from up to 500,000 people aged 40-69 over the next three to four years. It is hoped the database will be used to find cures for killer illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Genetic databank to catalogue WA residents
ABC News Online - August 8, 2006: Researchers from the University of Western Australia Centre for Medical Research plan to collect blood samples and health information from every person in Western Australia over the next few years in an effort to create the world's biggest human genetic databank.

Letter: The costs of cures
Metro West Daily News - June 13, 2006: Greg Simon, of FasterCures, letter to the editor on the value of human biological materials in research and the rules and responsibilities that should govern their use.

Taking the Least of You
The New York Times - April 30, 2006: Greg Simon, of FasterCures, letter to the editor on medical research and tissue ownership.

Press Releases

Indiana University will host new gene therapy biorepository – June 20, 2008

Injured US military members to benefit from Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) tissue bank – May 29, 2008

UK Biobank's robotic sample management system a finalist for top engineering award – May 12, 2008

Hutchinson Cancer Center, Canary Foundation, and National Cancer Institute team up for early detection of prostate cancer – May 2, 2008

Donors for breast cancer biobank sought at 2008 Indianapolis Komen Race for the Cure – April 7, 2008

Wistar Institute cell lines to be distributed through Coriell Biobank – March 25, 2008

BioBank Central Launches Online Forum to Drive Global Connectivity Among Biobanking Community – May 30, 2007

FasterCures launches BioBank Central – April 19, 2006