#biobank software

In medicine, we are entering a new era where patients, health professionals, and academic elites increasingly collaborate to enhance knowledge and test novel paradigms for illness detection and treatment. So what exactly is biobanking, where does it fit in with clinical research and how is it transforming the medical industry? Well, let’s get to it.

What is Biobanking

Biobanking, or the preservation of biospecimens, is becoming increasingly important in scientific research. Biobanking refers to the process of collecting human and animal biological samples for research purposes, such as blood, urine, bone marrow, saliva, spinal fluid, and tissue, in order to better understand health and illness. A biobank is a biorepository that collects, processes, stores, and distributes specimens and data for research and clinical studies.

Biobanking software is critical to the future of modern medicine; biobanks collect, preserve, annotate, and disseminate biological samples (tissues, blood, nucleic acids) and their associated metadata, which is then used to identify relevant disease biomarkers for use in disease diagnosis and drug development.

According to a recent report, the worldwide biobanking market was valued at $40.7 billion in 2021 and is predicted to increase at an 8.22% annual pace through 2027. This rapid pace of growth can be attributed to rising interest in biobanking-supported sectors such as genomics and customized medicine, among others.

Across the world, several biobanks have been developed to aid in modern medical research fields such as customized medicine. Researchers are always looking for innovative ways to pinpoint the source of an illness and give more targeted treatment choices.

Many large-scale biobanking programs are now underway at the national, international, and institutional levels. Biobank software are essential tools for investigating complicated diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes when paired with questionnaires and medical record data. Biobanks have become critical to the goal of improving population health by making medicine more effective and personalized for each of us. We all play an important part, from contributing biospecimens to acquiring authorization for biospecimen processing and data collecting.

Why are Biobanks Crucial for Modern Medicine 

Biobanks are incredibly significant organizations with several benefits. An untold number of lives are saved each year by providing the infrastructure that allows researchers and scientists to examine and eradicate the illness. Imagine how the world would be now if polio, smallpox, or malaria still existed. It's not a pretty picture. While many deadly illnesses have been eradicated or drastically reduced in wealthy countries, the same cannot be said for the rest of the world.

In the present world, biobanks are a valuable resource for proteomics, genomics, and metabolomics research, translational studies, molecular epidemiology, therapeutic target development, and biomarker and drug discovery.

1. Biobanking Supports Genomics

While genomics is the future of cancer and rare illness treatment (affecting fewer than 200,000 individuals), genetic biobanks allow researchers to acquire and exchange high-quality genetic biospecimens. 

Most malignancies and uncommon disorders have a genetic basis, and biomaterials preserved in biobanks can help. Integrated genomics allows researchers to do genetic profiling on particular tumors in order to acquire a better knowledge of the genetic causes of cancer. While genomics may not be appropriate for every cancer patient at this time, it can improve "effective therapeutic alternatives" for individuals with the worst prognosis based on existing treatment regimens.

2. Biobanks Are Key Drivers For Precision Medicine

Precision medicine uses genomes to produce individualized medicines for people with severe diseases that may not respond to current treatments. 

Precision medicine, on the other hand, does not stop at genetics and examines one's environment and lifestyle as disease factors. Precision medicine dubbed the "future of healthcare," is mainly reliant on biobanking. Pharma requires highly specific specimens, which biobanks give. Tumor banks, for example, provide high-quality, well-annotated specimens that are important in oncology.

3. Biobanks Support the Development of New Drugs

Human tissue biobanks are valuable resources for drug research and development. The development of high throughput methods that led to the discovery of biomarkers cleared the path for drug discovery. Biobanks accelerate the development of novel therapies and guarantee that they reach patients on time by improving access to high-quality specimens and clinical data.

How BMS Software Augments the Capabilities of a Biobank

Contemporary biobanks collect massive volumes of complicated data that must be handled quickly and precisely. This cannot be accomplished without the assistance of sophisticated and exact informatics. In many respects, artificial intelligence is set to transform biobanking. AI, for example, may be used to evaluate the quality of biosamples and propose those that are suitable for investigation. Machine learning, big data, semantic web, and other computational models can also help identify high-quality and well-characterized samples and data for study.

Octalsoft’s Biorepository Management System which is a biobank sample management software meets the Increasing Demands of Contemporary Biobanks.

Octalsoft’s LIMS, a cloud-hosted Laboratory Information Management System, LIMS software for biobanking, automates and simplifies biobanking operations while also ensuring data security and remote access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

A biospecimen management system is useful in developing solutions to facilitate specimen and data exchange and improve interoperability. Contemporary biobanks are besieged by an onslaught of data derived from various and unique biospecimens. A biorepository management system like Octalsoft’s BMS assists biobanks in maximizing the value of their stored samples, meeting regulatory obligations, and encouraging scientific collaboration to improve medical research.

In Summation

Biobanking is expected to change the world and swiftly establish itself as a critical component of research infrastructure development. The goal is that increased expenditures will enable scientific discoveries that will have a substantial influence on a country's economy by influencing our understanding of human health, sickness, medications, and personalized treatment.

Biobanking is already increasing its operations from modest to complicated firms. The management of these biobanks has evolved due to automation and computerization of operations. Specimens can now be electronically kept in a database. With sufficient finances, biobanks may now invest in robots to speed up the processing and sampling process.

Similarly, biobank management software appears to be leading the way for customized medicine among the scientific community all around the world. Biobanking is similar to a microscope in that it allows us to examine how the many risk factors interact to create any illness. Nevertheless, various technological, social, ethical, and legal issues must be addressed before this approach may be fruitful. Addressing these challenges is critical to the expansion of biobanks and the advancement of medical research in the twenty-first century.