The Biobank Resource Centre (BRC) delivers tools and services for all types of researchers and biobankers. It is a not-for-profit academic organization with a coordinating centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
THE BRC GOALS ARE:Biospecimens are tissues, blood, body fluids and their derivatives typically collected for diagnosis and/or research projects. Human biospecimens are defined as any biological material taken from a human individual for diagnostic or research purposes. Examples of biospecimens are:
A biobank (also commonly referred to as a biorepository, repository, or tissue bank) is a collection of biospecimens and their associated "annotating" data. A biobank can be comprised of human, animal or environmental (e.g. seeds, viruses, soil etc.) biospecimens. For the purpose of this website and our programs, we focus our attention on "human" biospecimens.
Annotated data are specific information associated with a biospecimen; for example, participant and biospecimen information and/or health related clinical and outcome data. Biospecimens are obtained during clinic visits, diagnostic or therapeutic surgical procedures, or during autopsies. Biospecimens may also be collected from both healthy people and those with disease conditions.
The OBER Biobank Certification program is a national initiative designed by a group of leading Canadian biobanks and international biobanking experts to address minimum standards in biobanking. Ultimately, the program's objective is to increase public confidence in biobanks, minimize risks to research institutions/ hospitals and improve the quality of biospecimen collected for research.
Certification is the process by which a third party gives written assurance that a product, process or service conforms to specific requirements whereas Accreditation is the procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition that a body or person is competent to carry out specific tasks.
Key differences to consider in certification vs accreditation:| Certification | Accreditation |
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| Source: Matzke and O'Donoghue et al. BIOPRESERVATION AND BIOBANKING. 10(5) 2012 | |
Yes. For more information, please see the BRC Education page.
A spectrum of support services and resources are available for biobanks. These are designed to assist new biobanks and existing biobanks, and include advice on planning, setup, protocols, database services and tools to enhance operations.
The BRC offers a range of services to assist researchers in the set up and operation of biobanks including:Get a full overview of our Products and Services.
Yes. You can certainly access the education modules without registering your biobank. Click on Sign Up to see the different account categories.
All research involving human biospecimens requires ethics review. In some jurisdictions the biobank itself needs ethics approval. Biobanks apply for ethics review commonly at the institutional level. The ethical and privacy laws that shape the ethics landscape exist at the local, provincial/state and federal level.
While there is no international organization that governs biobanking, the International Society for Biological and Environmental Biorepositories (ISBER) is an international forum that addresses the technical, legal, ethical, and managerial issues relevant to repositories of biological and environmental specimens. More information about ISBER can be found at www.isber.org.
The Biobank Resource Centre hosts a Biobank Locator tool which allows you to identify biobanks around the world who have registered for our certification program and are accepting research biospecimen requests. We are also working on the development of a Biospecimen Locator tool to enhance researcher access to banked biospecimens.
There are also a number of international on-line resources which can help you identify biobanks with biospecimens available. Go to Other Biobank Resources page.See our Other Education Resources page to learn more about the exciting world of biobanking.