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| ISBER | |
|---|---|
| Name | ISBER |
| Formation | 1999 |
| Type | International non-profit association |
| Headquarters | Richmond, California |
| Region served | Global |
| Fields | Biorepository science, biobanking, biospecimen management |
ISBER is an international professional association dedicated to advancing the science and practice of biorepositories and biobanking. The organization brings together practitioners, scientists, administrators, and stakeholders to develop consensus standards, promote education, and facilitate collaboration among institutions such as the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, European Union, and academic centers including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and Stanford University. Through working groups and committees, ISBER engages partners like the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Cancer Institute, and regional networks such as the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure.
ISBER was established in the late 1990s amid growing recognition of biospecimen variability at institutions including Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and University of Oxford. Early activities paralleled initiatives from Human Genome Project contributors and interacted with standards efforts at organizations such as Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and International Organization for Standardization. Over successive conferences held alongside meetings like the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting and the European Society of Human Genetics congress, ISBER expanded membership to include biobanks from Canada, Japan, Australia, Germany, and Brazil. Prominent milestones included production of community-driven best practice documents and partnerships with funders like the National Health Service research programs and philanthropic entities including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
ISBER's mission is to improve the quality, utility, and accessibility of biospecimens for research conducted by investigators at institutions such as Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Karolinska Institutet. Objectives emphasize harmonization of procedures consistent with expectations from regulatory bodies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ethical frameworks promoted by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, and data governance models used by consortia such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium. ISBER seeks to promote reproducibility valued by publishers like Nature, Science (journal), and The Lancet while aligning with funder requirements from organizations like the European Research Council and National Science Foundation.
ISBER is governed by an elected leadership structure with roles analogous to boards at organizations such as the American Society of Human Genetics, Society for Neuroscience, and American Association for Clinical Chemistry. Membership comprises individuals and institutional representatives from academic centers like Imperial College London, government agencies like the Public Health Agency of Canada, non-profit organizations like PATH, and private sector entities including biotechnology firms similar to Thermo Fisher Scientific and diagnostic companies comparable to Roche. Committees and working groups mirror models used by Committee on Publication Ethics and collaborate with legal advisors versed in regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation and national statutes like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
A core activity is development of best practices for specimen collection, processing, storage, and distribution drawing on methodologies used at centers including Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Scripps Research, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. ISBER guidelines address pre-analytical variables influenced by techniques from laboratories at Broad Institute, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and European Molecular Biology Laboratory. The organization’s standards interface with accreditation frameworks from entities like College of American Pathologists and with quality systems modeled on Good Clinical Practice and laboratory standards promoted by ISO. Working groups publish consensus recommendations used by biobanks in initiatives such as the UK Biobank and national cohort studies like the Framingham Heart Study.
ISBER organizes workshops, training courses, and an annual meeting that attracts participants from programs such as the Clinical and Translational Science Awards network, the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories's peers, and regional meetings linked to Asia-Pacific Biobanking activities. Educational offerings include hands-on sessions aligned with curricula at institutions like Yale University and continuing education credits paralleling those offered by professional societies like the American Society for Clinical Pathology. Events often feature plenary speakers from organizations such as the European Society of Biobanking and collaborative sessions with funders including the Wellcome Sanger Institute.
ISBER facilitates research on biospecimen science by convening multi-center studies with partners including the National Institutes of Health-funded networks, disease-specific consortia like the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and translational programs such as The Cancer Genome Atlas. Collaborative projects examine pre-analytic variables studied at laboratories like Johns Hopkins and UCLA, and foster data-sharing approaches consistent with models from the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health and infrastructure projects like the European Open Science Cloud.
ISBER produces best practice documents, white papers, and case studies disseminated to stakeholders such as editors at PLOS, BMJ, and Journal of the American Medical Association. Resources include templates for material transfer agreements used by institutions like Columbia University and biospecimen quality assessment tools employed by core facilities at Emory University. ISBER’s educational materials and guidelines are widely cited by projects including national biobanks and consortia such as the All of Us Research Program and the International Human Epigenome Consortium.
Category:Biobanking