Registration

Running a Biobank – Detecting Current Legal Trends, Avoiding Typical Legal Pitfalls
Timo Faltus, Research Associate, Martin-Luther-University, Germany

The presentation covers legal questions from sampling, via scientific and commercial use of the samples and public advertising the services of a biobank. The presentation will therefore also explain how to avoid typical legal pitfalls biobanks face.

Human Research Biobanks in Europe: Ethical and Regulatory Aspects
Elena Salvaterra, Senior Researcher, Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea, Italy

This talk aims to present ethical, legal and regulatory aspects associated with human research biobanks in Europe. It focuses on key ethical aspects that distinguish adult from pediatric biobanks.

Coffee Break and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Blurring Boundaries between Research and Care in Biobanking: Exploring Tensions in Governance
Conor Douglas, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Vrije University of Amsterdam Medical Centre, Netherlands

Biobanks are confronted with multiple, diverging and changing norms related to research versus medicine. These entail different models of donor recruitment, and the conflation of research infrastructures as public versus private goods. We review the implications of these tensions for achieving 'interoperable' biobank governance.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

Biobanking in a Private Research Institute: Practical Approaches and Challenges
Stella Somiari, Senior Director, Windber Research Institute, United States of America

Biobanking is an organized industry that provides biospecimens for research. Private Biobanks collect and bank a wide variety of specimens for internal and external use.  The practical approaches we have instituted to address “demand” and “supply” challenges will be discussed.

Coffee Break and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Biobanking : Economics and Impact
Chana Rabiner, Director of International Affairs, National Cancer Institute, United States of America

While it is recognized that high quality biospecimens are critical in every aspect of today's medicine, the true cost and economic impact of biobanking has been poorly understood and better definition is needed.  Current and future initiatives to address this will be discussed and evaluated.  Topics will include: the total life cost of ownership, the costs associated with implementing best practices, how can the value of specimens and data be determined, and how can the economic benefits of biobanking be quantified.

Commercial Biobanking in an Academic Setting: Exploring the Scientific and Fiscal Boundaries of Biosample Resources
Andrew Brooks, Associate Professor/Chief Operating Officer/Director, Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository, United States of America

Defining the value of biomaterials for research and clinical applications. How to develop a self-sustaining biorepository to support the local and global community.

Biobanking Applications for Genomics
Peter Lansberg, Managing Director, DNA Biobank Facility, The Durrer Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Drinks Reception

Biobanking Rare Disease, the Eurobiobank-Telethon Experience
Corrado Angelini, Principle Investigator, University of Padova, Italy

To capture the value of rare disease material collection, the accomplishment of Eurobiobank and Telethon Network of genetic biobank will be presented as well as the catalogue used for rare diseases collection.

Targeted Resequencing Applications in a High-throughput Laboratory
Niels Kruize, Sales Director, LGC Genomics, Germany

Coffee Break and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Tumour Biobank for Advancing Translational Research in Oncology
Elke Smits, Scientific Project Manager/Medical Director, Antwerp University Hospital, Belgium

Prevention, treatment and care of cancer patients largely depend upon improvements in scientific research. By creating a virtual inter-institutional tumour biobank, translational research will be promoted and a network created for future academic, medical and/or industrial collaborations.

Use of ICT Tools to Monitor and Trace Life Cycle of a Biosample: The Experience of the BioBIM (Interinstitutional Multidisciplinary BioBank)
Fiorella Guadagni, Chief, Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico San Raffaele Pisana, Italy

The use of ICT tools ie, RFID technology, allows to collect detailed data concerning several manual processes and to fully document the whole life cycle of samples stored in a biobank.

Technology Spotlight:
Miniaturization in Biobanking
Kate Enright, Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific

As assay technologies advance, aliquot size required for analysis is decreasing. Typical proteomic MS biomarker assays require sample volumes of less than 50µl while biobanks typically store much larger volumes. Sample miniaturization presents opportunities to increase aliquot numbers (and allow for greater sample utilization without the need for additional freeze/thaw cycles) while presenting opportunities to maximize storage capacity and minimize the costs of long term cryostorage of biospecimens by reducing the overall size of biobank collections. This presentation will address comparisons between smaller and larger storage volumes, tube and sealing technologies, calculations for store sizes and total energy consumption and related topics.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Poster Viewing Session

Following Nature’s Lead – Developing Next Generation Biostabilization Reagents
Rolf Muller, Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Biomatrica, United States of America

This talk will provide details of work at Biomatrica in the invention and development of biostabilization technology which protects and preserves all forms of biologicals under ambient temperature, allowing not only for asset protection, but also significant impact on the future cost of patient sample collection, shipping and storage in personalized health care management.

Careful Selection of the Proper Tools to Increase Productivity of Biobanks
Tim Sheehy, Director, Promega Corporation, United States of America

To illustrate the selection of tools in building a bioprocessing workflow. These turn-key systems allow for increases in throughput, decreased costs per samples and an increase in the consistency and quality of the samples delivered to both the downstream customer and to the Biobank for storage.

Coffee Break and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Close of Conference