Biorepositories
Biobanks and Biorepositories, are specialized organizations involved in the gathering, processing, storing, and distributing of biospecimens or biological materials obtained from animals and humans. In simple terms, biorepositories are the library of research biospecimens!
In this COVID-19 global pandemic, the possibilities of biobanking boosted drastically. By 2020, the biotechnology sector showed remarkable growth. In fact, biorepositories played a vital role in scaling up biomedical research and developments across the globe. Consequently, the COVID-19 period witnessed a boom in creating new biorepositories all over the world. Parallelly, biorepositories are now concentrating on expanding their clinical networks to bank the maximum number of clinical specimens possible for the future research.
Undoubtedly, human biorepositories are the core source for research. It stores millions of human biospecimens for research such as serum, plasma, blood, urine, tissue, cells, DNA, hair, and bones of human and animal origin. However, biorepositories vastly differ in inventory type, purpose, and ownership. Biorepositories storing human-originated biomaterials are known as human biobanks. These biobanks and biorepositories provide specimens for human research and medical discovery. In contrast, animal biobanks store samples collected from animals for animal research. In recent times, the hike in disease incidence and prevalence has led to setting up disease-oriented biobanks to store patient samples of specific diseases for future research exclusively, e.g.COVID-19 biobanks, cancer biobanks, etc. Therefore, there is no doubt that biobanks have become increasingly relevant these days for successful clinical studies. Biorepositories are the reservoir for valuable human biological specimens and data crucial for advancing in-vitro studies.
Biobanks and Biorepositories in the past, present, and future
The concept of biobanking has evolved centuries back. It began by setting up a small laboratory to collect and preserve limited bio specimens for university-based scientific research and academic studies. It was a small setup within the laboratory where bio specimens are stored at in-house freezers with manual recording on lab notebooks. The remnant samples were discarded after experiments.
Due to the pressing demand for human medicine research, the biobanking landscape has changed over the past decade. Besides, the changing desires of the investigators have also contributed to this shift leading to the establishment of numerous biobanking units globally. Today, we can see the best biorepositories ranging from small institutional biobanks to large public or governmental biobanks and biorepository, commercial biorepositories, population, and virtual biobanks. In short, modern biorepositories no longer remain as small institutional units with limited scope but as large enterprises dealing with bio specimens. Also, the responsibilities of today's biorepositories are immense. It acts as an epicenter for successful research since biobank and biorepository harness valuable bio specimens for the future. They are committed to supplying investigators with high-quality, well-tested, clinically graded human biospecimens with well-annotated sample data. Presently, the rapid surge in the biobanking market and competition among them led to storing and supplying poorly annotated low-quality human biospecimens for research. This called up sustainable protocols, SOPs, and data management systems to reinforce best practices in biobanking.
However, as we know, in the 21st century, technology has integrated into every sector of life so has scientific research. Future human biospecimens biobanks or biorepositories will not only focus on laboratory-based quality controls but also on the quick and easy traceability and transferability of banked biospecimens for diagnostic and medicine research. It is possible through cloud-based inventory management. It helps in easy interoperable data management and advanced data sharing, allowing biobank and biorepository managers to practice more effective and transparent inventory control. Besides, online procurement of human biospecimens boosts samples' visibility to the researchers and fetches hassle-free procurement. Therefore, the complete automated biobanking system permits future biobanks in the seamless delivery of specimens and information to scientists.
About Central BioHub and our mission
Pushing the boundaries of human biospecimen research, Central BioHub offers the most innovative digital platform for buying and selling human biospecimens for research. We are well connected with the biobanks and biorepositories operational across the globe. We leverage to bring their real-time inventories online for easy acquisition by the researchers.
Our mission is to end the tedious biospecimen procurement. We establish a transparent digital pathway to offer human bio specimens for healthcare research. Central BioHub simplifies the biosample acquisition more than ever before with our online human biospecimen marketplace. Explore our inventory and let the precious human samples find their place in your research.
Sign up now for free and find research samples that best fit your needs by clicking on clinical diagnosis, ICD-10-CM codes, and laboratory parameters.
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