#biobanking software

As science advances toward precision medicine, large-scale genomics, multi-omics studies, translational research, and longitudinal cohort studies, biobanks have become indispensable. But today’s researchers expect far more than specimen storage—they need high-quality, well-annotated biospecimens while meeting compliance and ethical guidelines.

Our latest blog breaks down the evolving expectations researchers have from biobanks, the operational and regulatory challenges many facilities face, and how biobanks can meet the expectations of researchers and regulatory agencies while upholding quality standards.

Here’s a quick look inside:

What researchers really want from biobanks—and why sample quality is just the beginning

The hidden hurdles that make maintaining and managing large collections complex

Why data inconsistencies and governance challenges can slow scientific progress

How a modern biobank management system can streamline operations and enable biobanks to offer high-quality, well-annotated samples to researchers

Biobanks are evolving from storage facilities into dynamic research infrastructures. The question is: do you have the systems in place to meet the demands of modern researchers?

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.

Biobanks collect and store a large number of biospecimens predominantly for health and medical research. The process is known as biobanking which includes everything from collection, preparation, preservation, analysis, and distribution of biological samples as well as associated data. The need to set up more biobanks has been increasing with the increasing demand for tissues and samples for biomedical research and translational studies. Biobanks must have documented standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all biobanking processes.

Are You Planning to Set Up a Biobank?

It is essential to understand the aim, funding, and scale of your project before setting up a biobank. You need to zero in on the type of biobank you want to set up. Following are some of the types of biobanks:

1. Disease-centric Biobanks: Disease-specific biobanks collect samples related to a specific disease.

2. Population-based Biobanks: These biobanks collect samples from the general population for use in broad-spectrum research.

3. Project-based Biobanks: These biobanks collect samples for a specific clinical trial.

4. Virtual Biobanks: These biobanks collect, store, and maintain sample data digitally and support transnational collaboration.

You can have a combination of all types depending on your needs.

Factors to Consider When Setting Up a Biobank

1. Sample Types

Biobanks need to securely process and store the collected samples to assure sample quality. Depending on the type of biobank you are planning to set up, you need to collect samples. To store fit-for-purpose samples, it is important that your samples meet the quality standards and have annotated metadata. Biobanks need to consider factors, such as sample transportation and sample preservation, based on the types of samples they collect and store.

2. Equipment

You need to purchase equipment based on the size of the biobank, your budget, the types of samples you need to process and store, and the available physical space of your biobank. A few common types of equipment needed in a biobank include:

Freezers: Select a freezer based on the type and expected number of samples you need to store. You can also customize the number of racks in the freezer based on your needs. Freezer gloves are another important thing to have.

Liquid Nitrogen Systems: These are needed if the samples need to be stored in liquid nitrogen for cryopreservation.

Generators: It is important to have backup power for freezers and other equipment in your biobank. You also need to have a sufficient number of uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) to commence an alternate power supply as soon as it goes off.

A biobank should always have surplus storage systems, racks, and storage boxes. It is also essential to monitor important parameters, such as temperature and humidity, by installing equipment monitoring systems. This is crucial to prevent deterioration in sample quality due to temperature fluctuations or abnormal humidity.

3. Physical Space

This is an important aspect of a biobank. You need a fairly large physical space as congested and poorly ventilated spaces are more prone to sample contamination. You may need to decide the exact area based on the space needed to accommodate freezers, generators, backup equipment, staff, and process samples.

4. Disinfectants

It is essential to maintain biological safety in your biobank. Biobanks need to follow standard guidelines for the disposal of bio-hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Depending on the samples you work with, you need to determine the level of biosafety and the type of disinfectants required. At your biobank, you must take all possible measures to prevent sample cross-contamination and should adopt a good disinfection method.

5. Contingency Plans

Contingency plans are emergency plans you must keep ready to fight potential hazards. It is important to identify the risks and effectively address them. You should conduct emergency response tests to assess the effectiveness of the emergency response. You must have a written agreement with reliable vendors for emergency delivery of resources. An emergency contact list of staff members and other stakeholders is a must for disaster management.

6. Governance, Budget, & Ethics

Your biobank should have well-trained staff to carry out day-to-day operations. A team of advisors, decision-makers, and administrators should be present among your staff members. You should estimate your expenses well to decide on the overall budget for setting up a biobank. You need to estimate the entire budget based on the cost of setup, products, services, and staff expenses. A biobank must comply with the ethical requirements of the country where it is located.

7. Accreditation

All commercial, third-party, or in-house biobanks need to follow regulatory guidelines and sample management best practices, such as ISO 20387:2018, EU GDPR, HIPAA, 21 CFR Part 11, and ISBER Best Practices to assure high-quality samples.

8. Software & Hardware

Digitization of biobanking operations is gaining popularity as it minimizes manual errors and increases efficiency. A laboratory software for biobanking, also known as Biobank Information Management System (BIMS) or biobanking LIMS, is crucial for automating workflows. It supports sample and data management while providing strong data security and donor privacy. You should select a BIMS that best meets your biobanking needs. A good laboratory software for biobanking should be able to securely manage samples and data, ensure data integrity by assigning role-based access to staff, meet compliance requirements, and remove data silos. Furthermore, a biobanking LIMS should be capable of securely managing patient data, documents and SOPs, maintaining a sample chain of custody, integrating with freezers and temperature monitoring systems, and scheduling staff training.

Hardware such as computers, laptops, printers, and hard drives, should be available for seamless data management.

Conclusion

Setting up a biobank requires a lot of thought processes and consideration of several factors. To meet the growing demand for high-quality samples and to comply with all operational and regulatory requirements, biobanks need a considerable amount of funding and resources such as equipment, staff, physical space, a laboratory software for biobanking, and hardware. You must contemplate all these factors before setting up a biobank so that the biobank fulfills the intended purposes.

Scientific data acquisition is centered around practices that rely on statistical validity and experimental accuracy. Firms or institutions that want to analyze the performance of new drugs and treatments, for instance, must create and adhere to rigorous testing regimens and ensure that they eliminate all possible sources of invalid data. Biobanking software is critical to building a specimen management system that facilitates such practices.

Data Tracking

Keeping biological specimens in order is one thing, but monitoring them in the context of experimental research is another. Each research stage generates massive quantities of critical data. It's impossible to maintain scientific accuracy if one cannot keep records that maintain the correlation between each sample and the data that belongs to it.

The process is further complicated by the fact that research lifetimes are often rather long, making good records even harder to keep accurately. While modern biobanks are easily able to store thousands of specimens in a well-preserved environment, only those with proper software support can store them in a fashion that makes them useful to research staff.

Biobanking software allows research firms to maintain the information that lets them analyze their samples. It connects with other databases to paint a better picture between downstream experimental data and upstream clinical test results. This makes it much simpler for non-specialist lab users and assistants to annotate and gather information about the specimens they're working with.

Another important feature of a good biobank software system is that it allows increased data flexibility. Research facilities often need to associate image files and other types of custom data with their specimens. Biobank software permits them to organize their native file systems however they prefer and still make these data associations from a single interface.

Data Protection

Biobank software also ensures that patient Protected Health Information (PHI) remains secure. The ability to configure user classes and administrative roles means that research supervisors can work with wider teams of corresponding scientists without risking confidentiality. In a world where technology enables lightning speed communication with other colleagues who possess valuable insight, the ability to guard PHI is absolutely essential.

Continued Testing