06/09/2021
The report of a group of Russian scientists-founders of biobanking in Russia at the European Biobank Week will be devoted to the creation of a national biobanking platform. The Virtual Congress will be held on November 8-10, 2021. https://europebiobankweek.eu/
Building the National Biobanking Platform in Russia
Granstrem O.K., Anisimov S.V., Proutski V.Y., Meshkov A.N., Glotov A.S., Muraviev A.I., Pokrovskaya M.S., Borisova A.L., Sukhorukov V.S., Semenenko T.A., Efimenko A.Yu., Mullabaeva S.M., Tkachuk A.P., Belyaev V.E., Glotov O.S., Tabakov V.Yu., Balanovsky O.P., Grivtsova L.Yu., Kaprin A.D., Drapkina O.M.
The National Association of Biobanks and Biobanking Specialists (NASBIO), Russia
Problem. Effective cooperation between the biobanks is extremely important for the support of biomedical R&D. Such cooperation can improve the biospecimen utilization rate and provide a faster and better response to the researcher's requests.
Solution. The National Association of Biobanks and Biobanking Specialists (NASBIO) was established in Russia in 2018 aiming to unite professionals and research organizations to establish a network of biobanks in Russia; provide services and expertise in the field of biobanking; execute research projects utilizing biobanking infrastructure, and facilitate the integration of Russian biomedical research community into global activities. Over 25 Russian biobanks have already joined the Association and interact closely, exchanging expertise. To further strengthen the cooperation between its members, the Association is now setting up a united national biobanking informatics platform to manage incoming biospecimens requests, store and exchange information on the biobank collections.
Discussion for the abstract. An E-mail list of NASBIO members is currently used to exchange requests for biobanking services. Such requests are distributed in a structured, user-friendly manner. An online interface to place such requests is being developed and should become available in early 2022. Notably, it is bilingual to enable the placing of requests by both Russian and English-speaking users. Another component of the platform being developed provides information on collections available in particular biobanks, including coded lists of available samples, their physical characteristics (numbers, types and sizes of aliquots), and basic information associated with samples. Taken together, even pilot application of the platform promises a significant improvement of the biospecimen utilization rate on the national level.
