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Biorepository book helps programs follow guidelines

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Bridget Kuehn

December 2014—Securing financial support and setting up a quality management program are two of the biggest challenges to creating a successful biospecimen repository, says Nilsa C. Ramirez, MD, director of the Biopathology Center of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

As chair of the CAP Biorepository Accreditation Program Committee, Dr. Ramirez has seen firsthand what can trip up biospecimen repository programs that seek to earn CAP accreditation. Finding staff with the right expertise and accounting for research-specific requirements are other common challenges.

Now, a new CAP Press book, Developing and Organizing an Institutional Biospecimen Repository, can help program directors and pathologists establish a new biorepository or improve an existing one. The two editors and 15 contributors provide detailed information about how to get started, personnel, infrastructure, biospecimen flow, QC, informatics, informed consent, cost assessment, and more.

“It will help them get a very organized approach to how to set up a biorepository,” says Dr. Ramirez, who co-wrote the chapter on management and key personnel.

Dr. Hansel

Dr. Hansel

Donna E. Hansel, MD, PhD, co-editor of the book, says careful planning is required to develop the internal and external partnerships that will support the biorepository long term. Dr. Hansel, division chief of anatomic pathology and professor of pathology at the University of California, San Diego, says although some biorepositories can be self-supporting financially, others may need to secure funding or other institutional support to meet end-user needs. Those who seek to build a repository should thus obtain buy-in from hospital leaders and other departments that would benefit from the repositories.

“It’s important that we do it right and do it collaboratively,” Dr. Hansel says. “It’s not something that is as simple as it used to be. People need to be aware of all the aspects of running a repository so they can do it right from the beginning.”

Fully integrating a biospecimen repository into the institution also is critical to ensuring the samples are of high quality. Scott D. Jewell, PhD, co-editor of the book and director of the program for biospecimen science at the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich., says the key to sample quality is shortening the time between sample collection and preservation. Doing so requires cooperation from surgeons and other clinical staff “and a clear understanding of your processes.”

“It really needs to be driven by the biobank,” Dr. Jewell says.

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