ISBER NEWS International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
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www.isber.org [email protected] Volume 8, Number 3, December 2008
Message from the President
Letter from the Editor
Someone recently asked: “What’s been happening in ISBER lately?” This was a timely reminder to provide an update for the newsletter so here is a brief overview of at least some of the many ISBER-related activities and events since our last annual meeting in Bethesda. Firstly, it should be emphasized that while it may appear that most ISBER activity takes place on the 4 days each year when we hold the annual meeting, this in reality is only the “tip of the iceberg.” In reality, ISBER keeps working 24/7, so at any time of the day or night, somebody, somewhere around the globe will be engaged in ISBER activities. Every month ISBER Council and committees meet on telephone conference calls to discuss current issues and these discussions keep members of committees, working groups and ISBER staff on track with their daily work. This work is helping to advance the field of biobanking and that of course is good news for all of us!
A lot of exciting things are going on now in the repository world these days. Opportunities for biospecimen research through NCI’s Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research – that certainly piqued the interest of many ISBER members. The frequently mis-attributed dictum (no, Hippocrates never said that in the physician’s oath), “First, do no harm,” is especially a good mantra for ensuring the optimal treatment of tissues for long-term storage. But how do we know what are the best source materials and the best ways to process them, for the greatest number of to be defined future uses? Many of us have been involved with designing specimen collection and storage for long-term studies (decades ++) and we try to use the best information available, but we also know that science can move ahead exponentially during the length of these studies. Here’s hoping some real breakthroughs are the outcome of this research!
Some Membership Statistics First of all, the membership statistics in Figure 1 speak for themselves:
This issue highlights ISBER members and partners where some cutting-edge work is being done already. Enjoy! Elaine Gunter Specimen Solutions, LLC
2008-2009 ISBER Council:
Figure 1. ISBER membership statistics
ISBER Council News Now some Council news. Council this year includes Marianna Bledsoe, Peter Riegman, Phil Baird, Kathy Sexton, Lisa Devereux, Lisa Miranda, Fay Betsou, Rebecca Pugh, and myself. It also includes the following non-voting members: Mark Sobel (executive officer), Eng Chon Boon, Jim Vaught, and Roger Aamodt. Tara Snethen also plays a vital role here (and in many other (Continued on page 2)
Robert Hewitt, MB BS, BSc (Hons), PhD, National University of Singapore, Singapore, President Peter H.J. Riegman, PhD, Erasmus MC Tissue Bank, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, President-Elect Marianna J. Bledsoe, MA, CRpac/NIH Office of Science Policy, Bethesda, MD, USA, Past President Phil Baird, MS, Kendle International, Rockville, MD, USA, SecretaryTreasurer Councilors: Fay Betsou, Biobanque de Picardie, Saluex, France Lisa Devereux, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Australia Lisa Miranda, Biobusiness Consulting, Inc. Lowell, MA, USA Rebecca Pugh, MS, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Charleston, SC, USA Katherine C. Sexton, MBA, University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA
DOI: 10.1089/bio.2008.0604.nltr
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Message from the President (continued from page 1)
ISBER activities) as the Senior Director of Society Services. Since the Bethesda meeting in May 2008, Council has focused on implementation of a successful economy drive within the society, the formation of new and reinforced committees, discussion of the 2010 meeting in Europe and the Forum for International Biobanking Organisations (see below) and developing plans for establishment of regional chapters. Kathy Sexton has played a key role on Council in overseeing the document management system and keeping minutes. Marianna Bledsoe has made particularly important contributions in terms of developing working group guidelines and revising the Nominating Committee operating procedures in consultation with Mark Sobel. Forum for International Biobanking Organizations (FIBO) One exciting new development is that ISBER has joined with a number of other organizations to form a small working group called the Forum for International Biobanking Organizations (FIBO). The idea for FIBO originated from discussions I had with Paul Burton and Mylene Deschenes of P3G and Kurt Zatloukal of BBMRI at an Informa biobanking meeting in Munich in November 2007 and came from recognition of the fact that all our organizations have common goals and problems and so there is the potential to achieve useful synergy by coordinating our efforts. FIBO’s mission is to improve biomedical research by
Apply for ISBER Membership Today! www.isber.org/membership.html Membership Benefits Include: x Discounted meeting registration for ISBER meetings and the ASIP Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology.
x Members-only access to the ISBER listserv. x Members-only access to the ISBER online searchable member directory.
x Members-only access to Cell Preservation Technology (CPT) online, the official journal of ISBER. Members may upgrade to the online/print CPT for an additional fee.
x Members-only subscription rates for The American Journal of Pathology and The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, the leading journals in their fields.
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enhancing interactions among organizations involved in human biobanking at a global level: x It provides a communication forum to enhance information exchange and sharing of strategic goals among organizations with involvement in human biobanking at a global level. x It facilitates the attainment of common goals with greater speed and efficiency. x It has the potential to provide a shared voice on specific issues that will present a more powerful vehicle to positively influence the field of biobanking and related academic and industrial arena. Figure 2. Illustrating FIBO’s potential to provide a common voice
©iStockphoto.com/Kronick
FIBO has now grown to include the following member organizations and representatives: BBMRI (Kurt Zatloukal, Michaela Mayrhofer), IARC (Markus Pasterk, Pierre Hainaut), ISBER (Fay Betsou, Marianna Bledsoe, Peter Riegman, Robert Hewitt), OBBR (Carolyn Compton, Jim Vaught), P3G (Isabel Fortier, Mylene Deschenes, Paul Burton). These organizations participate in FIBO for the primary purpose of contributing to the development of human biobanking across the world rather than to pursue their own special interests. FIBO is not a decisional forum and all the participating organizations remain sovereign. Over the past year, FIBO members have held six meetings at various biobanking conferences including the Informa meeting in Munich (November 2007), the OECD meeting in Paris (December 2007), the BBMRI meeting in Hinxton, Cambridge (February 2008), the ISBER meeting in Bethesda (May 2008) following which ISBER Council formally decided to participate, the P3G meeting in Barcelona (May 2008) and the European Science Foundation meeting in Saint Feliu de Guixols, Spain (November 2008). This gives some idea of the group’s commitment to achieving its mission. So far, FIBO has completed an article for publication which highlights the critical need for evidence-based standards for biobanking. Given the promising progress of the FIBO initiative in the area of human biobanking, the possibility of a similar (Continued on page 4)
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) The Vision The Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) will sustainably secure access to biological resources required for health-related research and development intended to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease and to promote the health of the citizens of Europe. The Mission x To prepare the construction of a pan-European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure, building on existing infrastructures, resources and technologies, specifically complemented with innovative components and properly embedded into European ethical, legal and societal frameworks. x To benefit European health-care, medical research, and, ultimately, the health of the citizens of the European Union. x To have a sustainable legal and financial conceptual framework for a pan-European BBMRI. x To increase scientific excellence and efficacy of European research in the life sciences. x To expand and secure competitiveness of European research and industry in a global context. Project Summary Human biological samples including associated medical data, and biomolecular research tools are key resources in unravelling the interplay of genetic and environmental factors causing diseases and impact on their outcome, identification of new targets for therapy and reduction of attrition in drug discovery and development. Furthermore these resources are required for identification of new targets for therapy and may help to reduce attrition in drug discovery and development. The European Strategy
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Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) foresees in its roadmap the pan-European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) to further develop these resources and to provide access to academia and industry. The preparatory phase of BBMRI will be funded within FP7. BBMRI will build on existing sample collections, resources, technologies, and expertise, which will be specifically complemented with innovative components and will be properly embedded into European scientific, ethical, legal, and societal frameworks. Sustainability will be achieved by appropriate funding and financing solutions. BBMRI will increase the scientific excellence and efficacy of European research in the biomedical sciences as well as expand and secure competitiveness of European research and industry in a global context and attract back (investments in) pharmaceutical and biomedical research facilities (from outside Europe). BBMRI will consist of: x Biobanks of different formats (based on collections of DNA, tissue, cells, blood and other body fluids, together with medical, environmental, life-style and follow-up data) x Population cohorts, including prospective and twin cohorts x Clinical case/control cohorts incl. disease-focused cohorts x Cohorts from isolated populations x Biomolecular resources (comprising antibody and affinity binder collections, ORF clone collections, siRNA libraries, proteins, cellular resources etc.) x Enabling technologies and high-throughput analysis platforms and integration of sites specialized in development of molecular tools to decipher gene, protein and metabolite functions and their interactions x Harmonized standards for sample collection, storage, preanalytics and analysis x Harmonized data collection, logistics and databaseand biocomputing infrastructure x Ethical, legal and societal guidance and platform Global Interactions and Benefits for Research and Health Care To avoid duplication of activities, BBMRI will exchange concepts and experience with several ongoing international activities, such as those pursued by the Public Population Project in Genomics (P3G), the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), the OECD, and the WHO, as well as research projects funded under FP5/FP6 and new projects under FP7. Ultimately, this will favour the study of important biomedical research questions that are beyond the scope of a single effort. Short-term benefits will appear soon, such as increased quality and reduced cost of research (Continued on page 4)
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
Volume 8, Number 3, December 2008
BBMRI (continued from page 3)
Message from the President (continued from page 2)
through better coordination, while longer perspectives include increased efficacy of drug discovery and development, and finally novel possibilities in health care (such as personalised medicine) and secured European competitiveness in research and industry.
initiative in the area on non-human biobanking (environmental, animal, plant and microbial biobanking) is now being explored. The need for unity and coordinated action to advance the field of biobanking and biospecimen science is obvious. ISBER can play a valuable role in promoting such developments.
Workpackage Leaders and Chairs Coordination: K. Zatloukal, AT, M.Yuille, UK; Executive Manager: E.Vuorio, FI; Global Interactions: M. Pasterk, FR; Population-based Biobanks – WP2: L. Peltonen, FI, A. Metspalu, EE; Disease-oriented Biobanks – WP 3: E. Wichmann, DE, T. Meitinger, DE; Biomolecular Resources – WP 4: U. Landegren, SE, M. Taussig, UK; Databases & Biocomputing - WP 5: J-E Litton, SE; Ethical, Legal and Societal Issues - WP 6: A. Cambon-Thomsen, FR; Funding and Financing – WP 7: G. Dagher, FR, J. Ridder, NL, C. Bréchot, FR; Governance Council Chair: L. Peltonen, FI; Scientific Advisory Board Chair: G-J van Ommen, NL; Stakeholder Forum Chair: M. Griffith, IR; Coordination Board Chair: K. Zatloukal, AT; Contact: [email protected] Url: www.bbmri.eu or www.biobanks.eu
Other International Developments Council has made significant progress in formulating a proposal for regional (geographic) chapters, and over the past few months this has been a major focus of activity. A consensus has been reached that we must proceed with regional chapters in order to meet the needs of biobankers across the globe and to encourage their participation in ISBER activities. We are likely to begin with an Asian chapter. More on this will follow soon. Guidelines for ISBER-sponsorship of meetings have been drawn up by Peter Riegman (President-elect) and have been approved by Council. This is another step forward in the effort to promote ISBER activities internationally. Also, as part of this effort, Professor Yeonhee Lee, head of the Korean National Research Resource Centers (KNRRC) will be hosting a biobanking meeting in Seoul, Korea from Tuesday 22nd – Fri 25th September 2009, so mark your calendars please! The meeting will cater to biobankers from all domains (human, environmental, animal, plant, microbial) and will be held at the COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea. This regional meeting will provide an outstanding opportunity to network with biobankers from across Asia as there will be invited representatives from at least 20 different Asian countries.
Reference Yuille M, et al. Biobanking for Europe. Brief Bioinform. 2008; 9(1):14-24.
ISBER Committee News The Education & Training (E&T) Committee is chaired by Karen Pitt and includes Lori Campbell, Rebecca Pugh, Kathy Sexton, Amy Skubitz, Stella Somiari, Lisa Miranda, and Fay Betsou. As usual, the committee has been very active. This year the committee has been developing and refining a promising self-assessment too, which is intended to help people make more objective assessments of how well they measure up to our best practice standards. Lori Campbell is editor-in-chief for the next edition of ISBER Best Practices, and at present the editorial team is collecting feedback to decide on areas for expansion of the 3rd edition. The E&T committee is planning two concurrent workshops to be held twice during the next annual meeting in Portland (May 2009). These are “Quality Control and Quality Assurance” to be chaired by Fay Betsou, and “Repository Challenges: Assessing the Value of Specimen Resources - Knowing When to Hold 'Em and When to Fold 'Em” to be chaired by Karen Pitt. The E&T committee is also organizing the travel award for the annual meeting. 4
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International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
Message from the President (continued from page 4)
Volume 8, Number 3, December 2008
Marianna Bledsoe (past-president), and includes Pasquale De Blasio, Cheryl Michels, Elaine Gunter, David Horsfall. This committee has the vitally important role of helping to select the future leadership of the society and clearly the task is in good hands.
The Marketing Committee is chaired by Eng Chon Boon and includes Elaine Gunter (Vice-chair and Newsletter editor), David Wellis (Chair, Fundraising Subcommittee), Phil Baird (ISBER treasurer), Trisha Dowling, Andy Zaayenga, Daniel Simeon-Dubach, Joe Kessler, Cheryl Michels, Samuel Hester, Heather Siefers, Maria Fernanda Correa de Adjounian, Yeonhee Lee, Heather Thorne, Ricardo Luis A.Silva and Tan Wei Ling as volunteer members. ISBER staff members include Alta Wallington (Director of Marketing & Development) and Laurie Menser (Marketing Manager). This enlarged committee includes representation from the USA, Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Switzerland, Korea, Singapore and Australia which of course helps our international marketing efforts. The main focus for the committee this year has been on fundraising. The committee is very active and there have been some excellent results to date.
Two New Committees Over the past few months, Council has formed two promising new ad hoc committees, the Publications Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC). The Publications Committee is chaired by Jim Vaught and includes Roger Aamodt, Elaine Gunter, Bill Grizzle, Bob Hanner, Scott Jewell, Manuel Morente, Peter Watson, Ole Seburg and Lyle Palmer. A brief initial mission statement for the committee is to “promote publication under the ISBER name and to act as a thinktank that will enable the society to advance the field of biobanking.” Members of the committee will be selected by Council based on their level of publication experience in areas relevant to biobanking (i.e.; scientific, medical, informatics, legal and ethical areas). The committee will review and monitor all documents generated under the ISBER name or using ISBER resources, whether print or electronic and will encourage publication on topics relevant to ISBER’s mission. It will review the role of the society’s official journal. In addition, it will provide guidance to other ISBER committees as needed.”
The Program Committee this year is chaired by Peter Riegman (president-elect) and includes Phil Baird, Rajiv Dhir, Marianne Henderson, Robert Hewitt, David Horsfall, Barbara O’Brien, Anil Prasad, Kathy Sexton, Andy Glass, Paul Bartels and Marianna Bledsoe. The committee has been working hard to plan the next annual meeting in Portland, in May 2009 which marks ISBER’s 10th anniversary. The program is looking very good and we have some exciting speakers and talks lined up, including: Elaine Gunter on “A look back on the first 10 years of ISBER,” Jim Vaught on “Cancer HUB for gold standard sample collection,” Hartmut Juhl on a biospecimen research topic, Heiko Zimmerman on the science of cryobiotechnology, David Ellis on the Svalbard Seed Bank, Paul Bartels on the “Frozen Ark” project, April Fritz on cancer registries, and a session organized by Marianna Bledsoe on legal and ethical issues. The overall format will be similar to last year’s meeting in Bethesda and we are planning a highly interactive meeting.
The LRPC is chaired by Roger Aamodt and includes Lisa Miranda, Frank Simione, Manuel Morente, Kathy Sexton, Karen Pitt and Lisa Deveraux. The purpose of the Long Range Planning Committee is to advise Council on long term strategy for the society. It will focus on how to best position ISBER to meet the needs of the repository community now and into the future. In order to accomplish this, the committee will further develop the Strategic Plan document and evaluate all aspects of ISBER policies and operations, including the Council and all standing committees.
The Finance Committee is chaired by Phil Baird (secretary-treasurer) and includes Robert Hewitt, Peter Riegman, Marianna Bledsoe, Cheryl Michels, Karen Pitt, Lisa Devereux, and Eng Chon Boon together with Mark Sobel and staff members James Douglas and Tara Snethen. The committee has been expanded this year to provide a wider perspective and has made good progress with financial planning, including planning for future meetings including the 2009 Portland meeting and the proposed 2010 meeting in Europe. A number of responses to the request for proposals (RFP) to host the 2010 meeting have been received from members based in Europe.
These new ad hoc committees will play important roles in advancing the society and in due course, both will probably become standing committees. ISBER Working Groups Working groups established in Bethesda this May include the following: “Rights to & Control of Human Tissue Samples” chaired by Ty Hoover and Rajiv Dhir; “Informed Consent Procedures for the Collection of Biospecimens” chaired by Scott Jewell; “Automated Repositories” chaired by Andy Zaayenga; “Biorepository Funding & Promotion” chaired by Sara Loud and Hollie Schmid;
The Nominating Committee this year is chaired by
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International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Message from the President (continued from page 5)
“Biospecimen Science” chaired by Fay Betsou and cochaired by Elaine Gunter; “Pharma Working Group” chaired by Phil Baird and Joe Kessler. For more detail on the working groups and their objectives, please look at the ISBER website. The working groups are being coordinated by Karen Pitt of the E&T committee and initial reports are promising. Some Recent Meetings Over the past two months, there have been a number of noteworthy biobanking meetings in Europe attended by ISBER members. First, there was the Marble Arch meeting in Milan (8th- 11th October), organized by Pasquale De Blasio. Other ISBER members present included Fay Betsou, Roger Bjugn, Jose Claudio Casali DaRocha, Ian Fore, Eoin Gaffney, Peter Geary, Lisa Miranda, Manuel Morente, Alison Parry-Jones, Rivka Ravid, Peter Riegman, Elsa Roland, Daniel Simeon-Dubach and Gerry Thomas. Then there was the European Science Foundation conference on Biobanks in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain (1st-6th November, http://www.esf.org/index.php?id=4570) also attended by ISBER members, Jim Vaught, Pasquale De Blasio, Roger Bjugn, Anne Cambon-Thomsen, Elsa Roland, Alison Parry-Jones, Rivka Ravid and Jan-Eric Litton. One take-home message for me is that there is so much happening on the biobanking scene in Europe at present with the new BBMRI initiative, it is essential for ISBER to get involved and make the valuable contributions that it can offer. I attended a workshop on “Basic Research and Access and Benefit Sharing,” in Bonn, Germany (17th – 19th November) which was intended to provide information to help parties to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) to develop an International Regime for Access and Benefit Sharing. The CBD excludes human genetic material and there was no discussion at this meeting of access and benefit sharing (ABS) in relation to human samples. Despite this it was a fascinating meeting for me as a human biobanker (or biobanker of human material!) – so much was relevant to human biomaterials. Also, there were a number of biobankers of plant and animal material who wanted more information about biobanking, particularly about informatics solutions for tracking samples. They included one representative of a network of 18 different biological collections in one state (Parana State) of Brazil. Seems like there may be potential members here for ISBER! ISBER Happy Hour On a social note, Karen Pitt and Marianna Bledsoe organized an ISBER Happy Hour at Clyde’s Restaurant in Rockville, MD on the 12th November for members in the Washington DC metropolitan area. As Marianna said in her message to the listserv: “We had approximately 30 atten6
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IARC BRC The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization. IARC's mission is to coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop scientific strategies for cancer control. The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates scientific information through publications, meetings, courses, and fellowships. The Agency’s work has four main objectives: (1) monitoring global cancer occurrence, (2) identifying the causes of cancer, (3) elucidation of mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and (4) developing scientific strategies for cancer control. Many IARC projects are dependent upon high-quality biological specimens. Mastering all technical aspects of specimen collection, packaging, transport and storage is a prerequisite for any biomarker-oriented research. Our focus is on pre-analytical processing, the chain of steps by (Continued on page 7)
dees at last night’s event. One of ISBER’s major goals is to promote opportunities for networking and sharing ideas and approaches to common problems. This was a wonderful opportunity in a small group setting to meet new and former colleagues with similar interests in repository issues, share experiences, spread the word about ISBER and also just to have a good time. I think there was a general consensus that it was quite a success. We plan to organize another similar event locally in the near future, and encourage those of you outside the area to think about organizing similar events in your area. Stay tuned!” Bulletin Board One other item of news: An impressive-looking new ISBER discussion forum will soon be implemented. This will take the form of a password-protected, search-engineproof website bulletin board, where all emails sent to the ISBER listserv will be posted. The bulletin board will replace the ISBER Archive and will include all messages going back to October of 2004. Should be good! Conclusion As you can see, the last six months have been busy for ISBER. Not only busy, but also very productive. As we approach ISBER’s 10th anniversary in 2009, the future of the society is looking bright. Robert Hewitt, MB BS, BSc (Hons), PhD ISBER President
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories IARC BRC (continued from page 6)
which a biological specimen follows from time of collection and before biomarker analysis. Mastering these steps requires a strict policy of evidence-based quality control practices. Therefore, a Biological Resource Centre (BRC) was established, and is now fully operating at IARC. Headed by Dr. Pierre Hainaut, the BRC is IARC’s central repository for more than 50 different collections, some of which were collected in the 1970s. The Biobank is funded through the regular budget of the Agency and also on a research grant basis from national and international funding bodies. Currently, the European Commission is one of the most used sources of grant funding. Since we focus our work on cancer prevention research, the BRC is a disease-oriented biobank, but some collections are also population-based. All collections have their individual governance structures, steering bodies with both ethical and scientific advisory boards and required processes implemented. Automation systems are developed for pipetting aliquots, biomolecule extraction and analysis. Our BRC can provide many services for the stored samples, from shipment to DNA extraction. The majority of samples are tracked with 1-D or 2-D barcodes. In total, IARC BRC holds currently some blood cell isolates, serum and plasma from 500,000 donors, 125,000 whole blood samples and DNA from another 25,000 participants. In terms of tissues, we store approximately 5,000 cryopreserved samples and 20,000 paraffinembedded blocks. We also have collections of hair, nails, and body fluids. Storage facilities encompass freezers (e.g. -20 °C for DNA to -80 °C for whole blood and some tissues) and liquid nitrogen tanks (both vapor-phase and liquid-phase, for our blood cell isolates, serum and plasma). The storage facility is equipped with an alarm system for temperature monitoring, and biosecurity measures have been implemented. In addition to the
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management of the collections, the BRC also provides service in pre-analytical processing, including sample aliquoting and automated DNA extraction. In 2008, DNA was extracted from about 25,000 subjects’ samples, mainly for analysis in Genome-Wide Association Studies. The participants are protected through an anonymization coding system. Proper ethical review processes are in place and informed consent was obtained for all samples. A quality control management is in place for, processing, storage, distribution and shipment. We are currently working to establish and implement similar processes for data management and infrastructure. Access rules exist for each individual collection and documentation can be obtained by email, or online from our homepage: www.iarc.fr. Publications: x Methods in Molecular Biology Book Series Methods in Biobanking Chapter 7: The EPIC biobank (European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer) Pierre Hainaut, Béatrice Vozar, Sabina Rinaldi and Elodie Caboux International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France x Biological Resources Centers in Molecular Epidemiology Studies: Collecting, Storing and Analyzing Biospecimens Elodie Caboux, Pierre Hainaut, Emmanuelle Gormally Mutat. Res. Rev 2007 Common Minimum Technical Standards And Protocols For Biological Resource Centres Dedicated To Cancer Research Working Group Reports, Volume 2 International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2007 Markus Pasterk, Pierre Hainaut International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
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International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
New Innovation for Transport and Biobanking of Purified DNA Samples GenVault Corporation just recently launched an innovative new product, GenTegra™ DNA. GenTegra DNA is a proprietary inorganic matrix with built-in oxidative protection and antimicrobial activity for dry, room temperature transport and biobanking of purified DNA. GenTegra DNA is provided in ready to use aliquots, and purified DNA dried within GenTegra DNA is simply and fully resolubilized with water for direct downstream molecular analysis. Preserving DNA Integrity in a Bone-dry Environment GenTegra™ DNA’s water-free environment ensures protection of DNA from degradation over a long period of storage at room temperature. When air-dried in a chemical medium with low water content such as GenTegra, DNA becomes much more stable at room temperature. DNA is a chemical polymer that is unstable in the presence of water. DNA in a bone-dry environment, is less exposed to risks of DNA strand breakage resulting from hydrolysis. In addition, in such an environment the rate of ultraviolet light damage is diminished, as first noticed in the unusual stability of DNA in airdried seeds. In an air-dried state at less than 70% relative humidity, DNA takes a coiled structure that is incompatible with ordinary UV-light induced thymidine dimer formation, or other water aided process that promotes UV-light photo-damage. The cluster tube format of GenTegra™ also provides thermal stability for DNA samples even at elevated temperatures. Flexibility in Sample Storage Combined with Excellent DNA Recovery GenTegra™ DNA comes in 96 cluster tubes ready-to-use for storing purified DNA samples from 0.25μg to 5μg 8
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aliquots. This enables easy transport and sample sharing among research or study collaborators. These cluster tubes are available in barcoded racks as well as individually barcoded tubes for easy tracking and inventory management. Recovery of DNA for downstream application is as simple as taking an aliquot out of a freezer. Simply rehydrate and your DNA sample is ready for downstream applications such as PCR, microarray analysis, genotyping and sequencing. DNA may be quantitatively recovered from GenTegra™ DNA tubes with great confidence. No post storage purification is required prior to assay application, thus providing researchers with an excellent DNA recovery rate of almost 100%. GenTegra DNA is robust and compatible with a DNA samples prepared or assayed in a wide range of buffers. GenTegra™ DNA is inert and will not interfere in post storage application assays such as PCR, genotyping, and spectrophotometric quantitation. This makes it very easy for GenTegra™ to be integrated in existing equipment, methods, and protocols for analysis, quantitation, and purity determination. Validation studies also indicated that GenTegra integrity and recovery is comparable to samples analyzed from cryopreserved samples (Figure 3).
References/Footnotes 1. Komigama, M., Takeda, N. & Shigekawa, H. Hydrolysis of DNA and RNA by lanthanide ions: mechanistic studies leading to new applications. Chem. Comm. 1999, 1443–1451 (1999). 2. Vanhee, L.M., Nelis, H.J. & Coenye, T. Enumeration of airborne bacteria and fungi using solid phase cytometry. J. Microbiol. Methods 72, 12–19 (2008). 3. Lamola, A.A. & Mittal, J.P. Solution photochemistry of thymine and uracil. Science 154, 1560–1561 (1966).
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www.isber.org [email protected] Volume 8, Number 3, December 2008
Message from the President
Letter from the Editor
Someone recently asked: “What’s been happening in ISBER lately?” This was a timely reminder to provide an update for the newsletter so here is a brief overview of at least some of the many ISBER-related activities and events since our last annual meeting in Bethesda. Firstly, it should be emphasized that while it may appear that most ISBER activity takes place on the 4 days each year when we hold the annual meeting, this in reality is only the “tip of the iceberg.” In reality, ISBER keeps working 24/7, so at any time of the day or night, somebody, somewhere around the globe will be engaged in ISBER activities. Every month ISBER Council and committees meet on telephone conference calls to discuss current issues and these discussions keep members of committees, working groups and ISBER staff on track with their daily work. This work is helping to advance the field of biobanking and that of course is good news for all of us!
A lot of exciting things are going on now in the repository world these days. Opportunities for biospecimen research through NCI’s Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research – that certainly piqued the interest of many ISBER members. The frequently mis-attributed dictum (no, Hippocrates never said that in the physician’s oath), “First, do no harm,” is especially a good mantra for ensuring the optimal treatment of tissues for long-term storage. But how do we know what are the best source materials and the best ways to process them, for the greatest number of to be defined future uses? Many of us have been involved with designing specimen collection and storage for long-term studies (decades ++) and we try to use the best information available, but we also know that science can move ahead exponentially during the length of these studies. Here’s hoping some real breakthroughs are the outcome of this research!
Some Membership Statistics First of all, the membership statistics in Figure 1 speak for themselves:
This issue highlights ISBER members and partners where some cutting-edge work is being done already. Enjoy! Elaine Gunter Specimen Solutions, LLC
2008-2009 ISBER Council:
Figure 1. ISBER membership statistics
ISBER Council News Now some Council news. Council this year includes Marianna Bledsoe, Peter Riegman, Phil Baird, Kathy Sexton, Lisa Devereux, Lisa Miranda, Fay Betsou, Rebecca Pugh, and myself. It also includes the following non-voting members: Mark Sobel (executive officer), Eng Chon Boon, Jim Vaught, and Roger Aamodt. Tara Snethen also plays a vital role here (and in many other (Continued on page 2)
Robert Hewitt, MB BS, BSc (Hons), PhD, National University of Singapore, Singapore, President Peter H.J. Riegman, PhD, Erasmus MC Tissue Bank, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, President-Elect Marianna J. Bledsoe, MA, CRpac/NIH Office of Science Policy, Bethesda, MD, USA, Past President Phil Baird, MS, Kendle International, Rockville, MD, USA, SecretaryTreasurer Councilors: Fay Betsou, Biobanque de Picardie, Saluex, France Lisa Devereux, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Australia Lisa Miranda, Biobusiness Consulting, Inc. Lowell, MA, USA Rebecca Pugh, MS, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Charleston, SC, USA Katherine C. Sexton, MBA, University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA
DOI: 10.1089/bio.2008.0604.nltr
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Message from the President (continued from page 1)
ISBER activities) as the Senior Director of Society Services. Since the Bethesda meeting in May 2008, Council has focused on implementation of a successful economy drive within the society, the formation of new and reinforced committees, discussion of the 2010 meeting in Europe and the Forum for International Biobanking Organisations (see below) and developing plans for establishment of regional chapters. Kathy Sexton has played a key role on Council in overseeing the document management system and keeping minutes. Marianna Bledsoe has made particularly important contributions in terms of developing working group guidelines and revising the Nominating Committee operating procedures in consultation with Mark Sobel. Forum for International Biobanking Organizations (FIBO) One exciting new development is that ISBER has joined with a number of other organizations to form a small working group called the Forum for International Biobanking Organizations (FIBO). The idea for FIBO originated from discussions I had with Paul Burton and Mylene Deschenes of P3G and Kurt Zatloukal of BBMRI at an Informa biobanking meeting in Munich in November 2007 and came from recognition of the fact that all our organizations have common goals and problems and so there is the potential to achieve useful synergy by coordinating our efforts. FIBO’s mission is to improve biomedical research by
Apply for ISBER Membership Today! www.isber.org/membership.html Membership Benefits Include: x Discounted meeting registration for ISBER meetings and the ASIP Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology.
x Members-only access to the ISBER listserv. x Members-only access to the ISBER online searchable member directory.
x Members-only access to Cell Preservation Technology (CPT) online, the official journal of ISBER. Members may upgrade to the online/print CPT for an additional fee.
x Members-only subscription rates for The American Journal of Pathology and The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, the leading journals in their fields.
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enhancing interactions among organizations involved in human biobanking at a global level: x It provides a communication forum to enhance information exchange and sharing of strategic goals among organizations with involvement in human biobanking at a global level. x It facilitates the attainment of common goals with greater speed and efficiency. x It has the potential to provide a shared voice on specific issues that will present a more powerful vehicle to positively influence the field of biobanking and related academic and industrial arena. Figure 2. Illustrating FIBO’s potential to provide a common voice
©iStockphoto.com/Kronick
FIBO has now grown to include the following member organizations and representatives: BBMRI (Kurt Zatloukal, Michaela Mayrhofer), IARC (Markus Pasterk, Pierre Hainaut), ISBER (Fay Betsou, Marianna Bledsoe, Peter Riegman, Robert Hewitt), OBBR (Carolyn Compton, Jim Vaught), P3G (Isabel Fortier, Mylene Deschenes, Paul Burton). These organizations participate in FIBO for the primary purpose of contributing to the development of human biobanking across the world rather than to pursue their own special interests. FIBO is not a decisional forum and all the participating organizations remain sovereign. Over the past year, FIBO members have held six meetings at various biobanking conferences including the Informa meeting in Munich (November 2007), the OECD meeting in Paris (December 2007), the BBMRI meeting in Hinxton, Cambridge (February 2008), the ISBER meeting in Bethesda (May 2008) following which ISBER Council formally decided to participate, the P3G meeting in Barcelona (May 2008) and the European Science Foundation meeting in Saint Feliu de Guixols, Spain (November 2008). This gives some idea of the group’s commitment to achieving its mission. So far, FIBO has completed an article for publication which highlights the critical need for evidence-based standards for biobanking. Given the promising progress of the FIBO initiative in the area of human biobanking, the possibility of a similar (Continued on page 4)
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) The Vision The Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) will sustainably secure access to biological resources required for health-related research and development intended to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease and to promote the health of the citizens of Europe. The Mission x To prepare the construction of a pan-European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure, building on existing infrastructures, resources and technologies, specifically complemented with innovative components and properly embedded into European ethical, legal and societal frameworks. x To benefit European health-care, medical research, and, ultimately, the health of the citizens of the European Union. x To have a sustainable legal and financial conceptual framework for a pan-European BBMRI. x To increase scientific excellence and efficacy of European research in the life sciences. x To expand and secure competitiveness of European research and industry in a global context. Project Summary Human biological samples including associated medical data, and biomolecular research tools are key resources in unravelling the interplay of genetic and environmental factors causing diseases and impact on their outcome, identification of new targets for therapy and reduction of attrition in drug discovery and development. Furthermore these resources are required for identification of new targets for therapy and may help to reduce attrition in drug discovery and development. The European Strategy
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Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) foresees in its roadmap the pan-European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) to further develop these resources and to provide access to academia and industry. The preparatory phase of BBMRI will be funded within FP7. BBMRI will build on existing sample collections, resources, technologies, and expertise, which will be specifically complemented with innovative components and will be properly embedded into European scientific, ethical, legal, and societal frameworks. Sustainability will be achieved by appropriate funding and financing solutions. BBMRI will increase the scientific excellence and efficacy of European research in the biomedical sciences as well as expand and secure competitiveness of European research and industry in a global context and attract back (investments in) pharmaceutical and biomedical research facilities (from outside Europe). BBMRI will consist of: x Biobanks of different formats (based on collections of DNA, tissue, cells, blood and other body fluids, together with medical, environmental, life-style and follow-up data) x Population cohorts, including prospective and twin cohorts x Clinical case/control cohorts incl. disease-focused cohorts x Cohorts from isolated populations x Biomolecular resources (comprising antibody and affinity binder collections, ORF clone collections, siRNA libraries, proteins, cellular resources etc.) x Enabling technologies and high-throughput analysis platforms and integration of sites specialized in development of molecular tools to decipher gene, protein and metabolite functions and their interactions x Harmonized standards for sample collection, storage, preanalytics and analysis x Harmonized data collection, logistics and databaseand biocomputing infrastructure x Ethical, legal and societal guidance and platform Global Interactions and Benefits for Research and Health Care To avoid duplication of activities, BBMRI will exchange concepts and experience with several ongoing international activities, such as those pursued by the Public Population Project in Genomics (P3G), the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), the OECD, and the WHO, as well as research projects funded under FP5/FP6 and new projects under FP7. Ultimately, this will favour the study of important biomedical research questions that are beyond the scope of a single effort. Short-term benefits will appear soon, such as increased quality and reduced cost of research (Continued on page 4)
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BBMRI (continued from page 3)
Message from the President (continued from page 2)
through better coordination, while longer perspectives include increased efficacy of drug discovery and development, and finally novel possibilities in health care (such as personalised medicine) and secured European competitiveness in research and industry.
initiative in the area on non-human biobanking (environmental, animal, plant and microbial biobanking) is now being explored. The need for unity and coordinated action to advance the field of biobanking and biospecimen science is obvious. ISBER can play a valuable role in promoting such developments.
Workpackage Leaders and Chairs Coordination: K. Zatloukal, AT, M.Yuille, UK; Executive Manager: E.Vuorio, FI; Global Interactions: M. Pasterk, FR; Population-based Biobanks – WP2: L. Peltonen, FI, A. Metspalu, EE; Disease-oriented Biobanks – WP 3: E. Wichmann, DE, T. Meitinger, DE; Biomolecular Resources – WP 4: U. Landegren, SE, M. Taussig, UK; Databases & Biocomputing - WP 5: J-E Litton, SE; Ethical, Legal and Societal Issues - WP 6: A. Cambon-Thomsen, FR; Funding and Financing – WP 7: G. Dagher, FR, J. Ridder, NL, C. Bréchot, FR; Governance Council Chair: L. Peltonen, FI; Scientific Advisory Board Chair: G-J van Ommen, NL; Stakeholder Forum Chair: M. Griffith, IR; Coordination Board Chair: K. Zatloukal, AT; Contact: [email protected] Url: www.bbmri.eu or www.biobanks.eu
Other International Developments Council has made significant progress in formulating a proposal for regional (geographic) chapters, and over the past few months this has been a major focus of activity. A consensus has been reached that we must proceed with regional chapters in order to meet the needs of biobankers across the globe and to encourage their participation in ISBER activities. We are likely to begin with an Asian chapter. More on this will follow soon. Guidelines for ISBER-sponsorship of meetings have been drawn up by Peter Riegman (President-elect) and have been approved by Council. This is another step forward in the effort to promote ISBER activities internationally. Also, as part of this effort, Professor Yeonhee Lee, head of the Korean National Research Resource Centers (KNRRC) will be hosting a biobanking meeting in Seoul, Korea from Tuesday 22nd – Fri 25th September 2009, so mark your calendars please! The meeting will cater to biobankers from all domains (human, environmental, animal, plant, microbial) and will be held at the COEX Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea. This regional meeting will provide an outstanding opportunity to network with biobankers from across Asia as there will be invited representatives from at least 20 different Asian countries.
Reference Yuille M, et al. Biobanking for Europe. Brief Bioinform. 2008; 9(1):14-24.
ISBER Committee News The Education & Training (E&T) Committee is chaired by Karen Pitt and includes Lori Campbell, Rebecca Pugh, Kathy Sexton, Amy Skubitz, Stella Somiari, Lisa Miranda, and Fay Betsou. As usual, the committee has been very active. This year the committee has been developing and refining a promising self-assessment too, which is intended to help people make more objective assessments of how well they measure up to our best practice standards. Lori Campbell is editor-in-chief for the next edition of ISBER Best Practices, and at present the editorial team is collecting feedback to decide on areas for expansion of the 3rd edition. The E&T committee is planning two concurrent workshops to be held twice during the next annual meeting in Portland (May 2009). These are “Quality Control and Quality Assurance” to be chaired by Fay Betsou, and “Repository Challenges: Assessing the Value of Specimen Resources - Knowing When to Hold 'Em and When to Fold 'Em” to be chaired by Karen Pitt. The E&T committee is also organizing the travel award for the annual meeting. 4
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International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
Message from the President (continued from page 4)
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Marianna Bledsoe (past-president), and includes Pasquale De Blasio, Cheryl Michels, Elaine Gunter, David Horsfall. This committee has the vitally important role of helping to select the future leadership of the society and clearly the task is in good hands.
The Marketing Committee is chaired by Eng Chon Boon and includes Elaine Gunter (Vice-chair and Newsletter editor), David Wellis (Chair, Fundraising Subcommittee), Phil Baird (ISBER treasurer), Trisha Dowling, Andy Zaayenga, Daniel Simeon-Dubach, Joe Kessler, Cheryl Michels, Samuel Hester, Heather Siefers, Maria Fernanda Correa de Adjounian, Yeonhee Lee, Heather Thorne, Ricardo Luis A.Silva and Tan Wei Ling as volunteer members. ISBER staff members include Alta Wallington (Director of Marketing & Development) and Laurie Menser (Marketing Manager). This enlarged committee includes representation from the USA, Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Switzerland, Korea, Singapore and Australia which of course helps our international marketing efforts. The main focus for the committee this year has been on fundraising. The committee is very active and there have been some excellent results to date.
Two New Committees Over the past few months, Council has formed two promising new ad hoc committees, the Publications Committee and the Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC). The Publications Committee is chaired by Jim Vaught and includes Roger Aamodt, Elaine Gunter, Bill Grizzle, Bob Hanner, Scott Jewell, Manuel Morente, Peter Watson, Ole Seburg and Lyle Palmer. A brief initial mission statement for the committee is to “promote publication under the ISBER name and to act as a thinktank that will enable the society to advance the field of biobanking.” Members of the committee will be selected by Council based on their level of publication experience in areas relevant to biobanking (i.e.; scientific, medical, informatics, legal and ethical areas). The committee will review and monitor all documents generated under the ISBER name or using ISBER resources, whether print or electronic and will encourage publication on topics relevant to ISBER’s mission. It will review the role of the society’s official journal. In addition, it will provide guidance to other ISBER committees as needed.”
The Program Committee this year is chaired by Peter Riegman (president-elect) and includes Phil Baird, Rajiv Dhir, Marianne Henderson, Robert Hewitt, David Horsfall, Barbara O’Brien, Anil Prasad, Kathy Sexton, Andy Glass, Paul Bartels and Marianna Bledsoe. The committee has been working hard to plan the next annual meeting in Portland, in May 2009 which marks ISBER’s 10th anniversary. The program is looking very good and we have some exciting speakers and talks lined up, including: Elaine Gunter on “A look back on the first 10 years of ISBER,” Jim Vaught on “Cancer HUB for gold standard sample collection,” Hartmut Juhl on a biospecimen research topic, Heiko Zimmerman on the science of cryobiotechnology, David Ellis on the Svalbard Seed Bank, Paul Bartels on the “Frozen Ark” project, April Fritz on cancer registries, and a session organized by Marianna Bledsoe on legal and ethical issues. The overall format will be similar to last year’s meeting in Bethesda and we are planning a highly interactive meeting.
The LRPC is chaired by Roger Aamodt and includes Lisa Miranda, Frank Simione, Manuel Morente, Kathy Sexton, Karen Pitt and Lisa Deveraux. The purpose of the Long Range Planning Committee is to advise Council on long term strategy for the society. It will focus on how to best position ISBER to meet the needs of the repository community now and into the future. In order to accomplish this, the committee will further develop the Strategic Plan document and evaluate all aspects of ISBER policies and operations, including the Council and all standing committees.
The Finance Committee is chaired by Phil Baird (secretary-treasurer) and includes Robert Hewitt, Peter Riegman, Marianna Bledsoe, Cheryl Michels, Karen Pitt, Lisa Devereux, and Eng Chon Boon together with Mark Sobel and staff members James Douglas and Tara Snethen. The committee has been expanded this year to provide a wider perspective and has made good progress with financial planning, including planning for future meetings including the 2009 Portland meeting and the proposed 2010 meeting in Europe. A number of responses to the request for proposals (RFP) to host the 2010 meeting have been received from members based in Europe.
These new ad hoc committees will play important roles in advancing the society and in due course, both will probably become standing committees. ISBER Working Groups Working groups established in Bethesda this May include the following: “Rights to & Control of Human Tissue Samples” chaired by Ty Hoover and Rajiv Dhir; “Informed Consent Procedures for the Collection of Biospecimens” chaired by Scott Jewell; “Automated Repositories” chaired by Andy Zaayenga; “Biorepository Funding & Promotion” chaired by Sara Loud and Hollie Schmid;
The Nominating Committee this year is chaired by
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International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories Message from the President (continued from page 5)
“Biospecimen Science” chaired by Fay Betsou and cochaired by Elaine Gunter; “Pharma Working Group” chaired by Phil Baird and Joe Kessler. For more detail on the working groups and their objectives, please look at the ISBER website. The working groups are being coordinated by Karen Pitt of the E&T committee and initial reports are promising. Some Recent Meetings Over the past two months, there have been a number of noteworthy biobanking meetings in Europe attended by ISBER members. First, there was the Marble Arch meeting in Milan (8th- 11th October), organized by Pasquale De Blasio. Other ISBER members present included Fay Betsou, Roger Bjugn, Jose Claudio Casali DaRocha, Ian Fore, Eoin Gaffney, Peter Geary, Lisa Miranda, Manuel Morente, Alison Parry-Jones, Rivka Ravid, Peter Riegman, Elsa Roland, Daniel Simeon-Dubach and Gerry Thomas. Then there was the European Science Foundation conference on Biobanks in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Spain (1st-6th November, http://www.esf.org/index.php?id=4570) also attended by ISBER members, Jim Vaught, Pasquale De Blasio, Roger Bjugn, Anne Cambon-Thomsen, Elsa Roland, Alison Parry-Jones, Rivka Ravid and Jan-Eric Litton. One take-home message for me is that there is so much happening on the biobanking scene in Europe at present with the new BBMRI initiative, it is essential for ISBER to get involved and make the valuable contributions that it can offer. I attended a workshop on “Basic Research and Access and Benefit Sharing,” in Bonn, Germany (17th – 19th November) which was intended to provide information to help parties to the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) to develop an International Regime for Access and Benefit Sharing. The CBD excludes human genetic material and there was no discussion at this meeting of access and benefit sharing (ABS) in relation to human samples. Despite this it was a fascinating meeting for me as a human biobanker (or biobanker of human material!) – so much was relevant to human biomaterials. Also, there were a number of biobankers of plant and animal material who wanted more information about biobanking, particularly about informatics solutions for tracking samples. They included one representative of a network of 18 different biological collections in one state (Parana State) of Brazil. Seems like there may be potential members here for ISBER! ISBER Happy Hour On a social note, Karen Pitt and Marianna Bledsoe organized an ISBER Happy Hour at Clyde’s Restaurant in Rockville, MD on the 12th November for members in the Washington DC metropolitan area. As Marianna said in her message to the listserv: “We had approximately 30 atten6
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IARC BRC The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is part of the World Health Organization. IARC's mission is to coordinate and conduct research on the causes of human cancer, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and to develop scientific strategies for cancer control. The Agency is involved in both epidemiological and laboratory research and disseminates scientific information through publications, meetings, courses, and fellowships. The Agency’s work has four main objectives: (1) monitoring global cancer occurrence, (2) identifying the causes of cancer, (3) elucidation of mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and (4) developing scientific strategies for cancer control. Many IARC projects are dependent upon high-quality biological specimens. Mastering all technical aspects of specimen collection, packaging, transport and storage is a prerequisite for any biomarker-oriented research. Our focus is on pre-analytical processing, the chain of steps by (Continued on page 7)
dees at last night’s event. One of ISBER’s major goals is to promote opportunities for networking and sharing ideas and approaches to common problems. This was a wonderful opportunity in a small group setting to meet new and former colleagues with similar interests in repository issues, share experiences, spread the word about ISBER and also just to have a good time. I think there was a general consensus that it was quite a success. We plan to organize another similar event locally in the near future, and encourage those of you outside the area to think about organizing similar events in your area. Stay tuned!” Bulletin Board One other item of news: An impressive-looking new ISBER discussion forum will soon be implemented. This will take the form of a password-protected, search-engineproof website bulletin board, where all emails sent to the ISBER listserv will be posted. The bulletin board will replace the ISBER Archive and will include all messages going back to October of 2004. Should be good! Conclusion As you can see, the last six months have been busy for ISBER. Not only busy, but also very productive. As we approach ISBER’s 10th anniversary in 2009, the future of the society is looking bright. Robert Hewitt, MB BS, BSc (Hons), PhD ISBER President
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories IARC BRC (continued from page 6)
which a biological specimen follows from time of collection and before biomarker analysis. Mastering these steps requires a strict policy of evidence-based quality control practices. Therefore, a Biological Resource Centre (BRC) was established, and is now fully operating at IARC. Headed by Dr. Pierre Hainaut, the BRC is IARC’s central repository for more than 50 different collections, some of which were collected in the 1970s. The Biobank is funded through the regular budget of the Agency and also on a research grant basis from national and international funding bodies. Currently, the European Commission is one of the most used sources of grant funding. Since we focus our work on cancer prevention research, the BRC is a disease-oriented biobank, but some collections are also population-based. All collections have their individual governance structures, steering bodies with both ethical and scientific advisory boards and required processes implemented. Automation systems are developed for pipetting aliquots, biomolecule extraction and analysis. Our BRC can provide many services for the stored samples, from shipment to DNA extraction. The majority of samples are tracked with 1-D or 2-D barcodes. In total, IARC BRC holds currently some blood cell isolates, serum and plasma from 500,000 donors, 125,000 whole blood samples and DNA from another 25,000 participants. In terms of tissues, we store approximately 5,000 cryopreserved samples and 20,000 paraffinembedded blocks. We also have collections of hair, nails, and body fluids. Storage facilities encompass freezers (e.g. -20 °C for DNA to -80 °C for whole blood and some tissues) and liquid nitrogen tanks (both vapor-phase and liquid-phase, for our blood cell isolates, serum and plasma). The storage facility is equipped with an alarm system for temperature monitoring, and biosecurity measures have been implemented. In addition to the
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management of the collections, the BRC also provides service in pre-analytical processing, including sample aliquoting and automated DNA extraction. In 2008, DNA was extracted from about 25,000 subjects’ samples, mainly for analysis in Genome-Wide Association Studies. The participants are protected through an anonymization coding system. Proper ethical review processes are in place and informed consent was obtained for all samples. A quality control management is in place for, processing, storage, distribution and shipment. We are currently working to establish and implement similar processes for data management and infrastructure. Access rules exist for each individual collection and documentation can be obtained by email, or online from our homepage: www.iarc.fr. Publications: x Methods in Molecular Biology Book Series Methods in Biobanking Chapter 7: The EPIC biobank (European Prospective Investigation into Nutrition and Cancer) Pierre Hainaut, Béatrice Vozar, Sabina Rinaldi and Elodie Caboux International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France x Biological Resources Centers in Molecular Epidemiology Studies: Collecting, Storing and Analyzing Biospecimens Elodie Caboux, Pierre Hainaut, Emmanuelle Gormally Mutat. Res. Rev 2007 Common Minimum Technical Standards And Protocols For Biological Resource Centres Dedicated To Cancer Research Working Group Reports, Volume 2 International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2007 Markus Pasterk, Pierre Hainaut International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
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International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
New Innovation for Transport and Biobanking of Purified DNA Samples GenVault Corporation just recently launched an innovative new product, GenTegra™ DNA. GenTegra DNA is a proprietary inorganic matrix with built-in oxidative protection and antimicrobial activity for dry, room temperature transport and biobanking of purified DNA. GenTegra DNA is provided in ready to use aliquots, and purified DNA dried within GenTegra DNA is simply and fully resolubilized with water for direct downstream molecular analysis. Preserving DNA Integrity in a Bone-dry Environment GenTegra™ DNA’s water-free environment ensures protection of DNA from degradation over a long period of storage at room temperature. When air-dried in a chemical medium with low water content such as GenTegra, DNA becomes much more stable at room temperature. DNA is a chemical polymer that is unstable in the presence of water. DNA in a bone-dry environment, is less exposed to risks of DNA strand breakage resulting from hydrolysis. In addition, in such an environment the rate of ultraviolet light damage is diminished, as first noticed in the unusual stability of DNA in airdried seeds. In an air-dried state at less than 70% relative humidity, DNA takes a coiled structure that is incompatible with ordinary UV-light induced thymidine dimer formation, or other water aided process that promotes UV-light photo-damage. The cluster tube format of GenTegra™ also provides thermal stability for DNA samples even at elevated temperatures. Flexibility in Sample Storage Combined with Excellent DNA Recovery GenTegra™ DNA comes in 96 cluster tubes ready-to-use for storing purified DNA samples from 0.25μg to 5μg 8
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aliquots. This enables easy transport and sample sharing among research or study collaborators. These cluster tubes are available in barcoded racks as well as individually barcoded tubes for easy tracking and inventory management. Recovery of DNA for downstream application is as simple as taking an aliquot out of a freezer. Simply rehydrate and your DNA sample is ready for downstream applications such as PCR, microarray analysis, genotyping and sequencing. DNA may be quantitatively recovered from GenTegra™ DNA tubes with great confidence. No post storage purification is required prior to assay application, thus providing researchers with an excellent DNA recovery rate of almost 100%. GenTegra DNA is robust and compatible with a DNA samples prepared or assayed in a wide range of buffers. GenTegra™ DNA is inert and will not interfere in post storage application assays such as PCR, genotyping, and spectrophotometric quantitation. This makes it very easy for GenTegra™ to be integrated in existing equipment, methods, and protocols for analysis, quantitation, and purity determination. Validation studies also indicated that GenTegra integrity and recovery is comparable to samples analyzed from cryopreserved samples (Figure 3).
References/Footnotes 1. Komigama, M., Takeda, N. & Shigekawa, H. Hydrolysis of DNA and RNA by lanthanide ions: mechanistic studies leading to new applications. Chem. Comm. 1999, 1443–1451 (1999). 2. Vanhee, L.M., Nelis, H.J. & Coenye, T. Enumeration of airborne bacteria and fungi using solid phase cytometry. J. Microbiol. Methods 72, 12–19 (2008). 3. Lamola, A.A. & Mittal, J.P. Solution photochemistry of thymine and uracil. Science 154, 1560–1561 (1966).
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