Biobanking: Preparation, Storage & Analysis Agenda

Registration

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

Biobanking Automation Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Karine Sargsyan, Managing Director, Biobank of Medical University Graz, Austria

This presentation will show the trends in biobanking sector on the basis of the example Biobank Graz.

The Bio-PIN: A Concept to Improve Biobanking
J.J. Nietfeld, Associate Professor, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands

Privacy protection is still an extensively discussed issue in biobanking. When the identity data are replaced by the Bio-PIN the anonymity results in maximum privacy protection. Nevertheless secure two-way communication is possible. Biobankers and researchers can save time and money when applying the Bio-PIN system, especially in international collaborations.

Technology Spotlight:
A Novel Low-volume High-density System for Sample Storage
Kate Enright, Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Scientific SampleSeal instrument creates low-volume high-density sample arrays suitable for short and long-term storage across a range of temperatures. The SampleSeal system demonstrates equivalent or improved seal integrity over standard systems, while providing valuable space savings potential.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

Effective Strategies for Ensuring the Long-term Integrity of Biological Samples
Kai-Alexander Wiemer, Manager, BioStorage Technologies GmbH, Germany

Preserving the integrity of temperature-sensitive biospecimens has become increasingly important across nearly every medical research discipline. These valuable, and often irreplaceable materials, can be utilized to support biomarker discovery, accelerate the development of personalized medicine and support other pharmaceutical R&D initiatives. The speaker will highlight various components of properly managing these materials.

Working with Virtual Bio Banks: A New Reality
Ann Cooreman, Chief Operating Officer, Tissue Solution Ltd, United Kingdom

The presentation will first look at the "old" way of gaining access to human specimens and compare it to the current situation.  It will then give a definition of a virtual Bio Bank and explore how working with virtual Bio banks can be an advantage for collection sites and researchers.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

Extraction of DNA from FFPE Tissue and Application in NGS
Pieter Vlies, General Facility Manager, University Medical Centre Groningen, Netherlands

To improve the success-rate with DNA from FFPE-tissue we compared an FFPE-DNA isolation method using magnetic beads with the a new method using the Covaris instrument. The obtained DNA is used in NGS sample-prep methods suited for low amounts of input DNA with promising results.

Applying Biological Samples in Genomics - Cohort Studies
Joris Parmentier, Product Manager, Flexgen, Netherlands

This talk covers DNA Extraction and other genomics technologies in the framework of one of the most typical applications of biological samples from Biobanks; Human cohort studies.

End of Day One

Legal Aspects for Running a Biobank – From Sampling to Commercial Use
Timo Faltus, Research Associate, Martin-Luther-University, Germany

The presentation covers legal questions from sampling, data protection law, scientific and commercial use of samples as well as public advertising for the services of a biobank. The presentation will therefore also explain how to avoid typical legal pitfalls in the biobank field.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

CANCELLED - Rethinking Sample Ownership: Managing a Biobank as a Trust
John Cason, Senior Lecturer, King's College London, United Kingdom

This talk will cover the concepts of sampkle ownership/custodianship and illustrate how viewing a biobank on the same level as a legal trust can be beneficial to the end users as well as to biobanks themselves. This involves a reassessment of the basic duties of biobanks.

Biobanks: Consent, Consensus & Public Trust
Zubin Master, Assistant Professor, Albany Medical College, United States of America

For logistical reasons, most biobanks adopt a broad/blanket informed consent approach. Yet several public perception studies suggest that some participants are less comfortable sharing samples for research they view as “contentious”. To remedy this problem, a simple consent proposal has been developed for biobanks allowing them to continue using broad/blanket consent while maintaining and promoting public trust.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

First External Quality Assessment for the Pre-analytical Phase of Blood Samples used for RNA Based Analyses
Francesca Malentacchi, Postdoctoral Fellow, University Of Florence, Italy

The diagnostic use of molecular assays can be limited by the lack of guidelines for blood preanalytical phase for molecular testing based on intracellular RNA. In order to develop evidence-based guidelines, within SPIDIA project, a Pan-European External Quality Assessment was implemented: results and critical evaluation will be focused on the influence of the preanalytical phase on blood RNA features.

The Controversy Between Public and Private Banking
J.J. Nietfeld, Associate Professor, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands

 An important point in the controversy between those favoring public cord blood stem cell (CBSC) banking for general allogeneic use and those favoring private CBSC banking for family use (autologous and allogeneic) is the usage probability. Data from opinions of medical societies will be compared with data from hard statistics.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

Biobanking for Epigenetic Studies: Bottlenecks & Strategies
Axel Schumacher, Project Leader, Biobank des Blutspendedienst des Bayerischen Roten Kreuzes, Germany

One of the main bottlenecks in large scale epigenetic research is the availability of suitable tissues that can be used to study biomarkers in complex diseases. The “Blood Donor Biobank” may offer a unique resource for studying such epigenetic biomarkers.

Close of Conference