Biobank is a huge collection of natural information and structure samples placed for research purposes. It is also a robust tool used in the study of diseases. It is an important source of information in supporting different types of modern research such as personalised medicine and genomics.
Biobank permit scientist to own cross purpose research studies in which data produced from examples in biobanks can be used for multiple researches. E. g. Biobanks can enable scientist identify disease biomarkers by using large selections of samples which represent hundreds of thousands of people.
It's been proven that before biobanks was invented little or known was known about different disease and biomarkers and scientist struggled to find enough examples to know very well what type of disease these are interacting with.
Although it's not all very good news for the utilization of Biobanks scheduled to research ethics and medical ethics. This issues were increased because of Level of privacy whereby functioning biobanks without the knowledge of governing bodies and guidelines could be bad for the societies that be a part of Biobank programs
There are types of biobanks, Tissue banks and Online biobanks and society finance institutions, before I clarify the types I'll explain far more about biobanks
Biobanks incorporate cryogenic storage space facilities for examples in which it can be a person refrigerator or a large warehouse refrigerator. They are simply stored up to standard by a healthcare facility, pharmaceutical companies and universities etc.
Disease focused biobanks may be classed by design and purpose because this biobanks gather information or examples representing different forms of diseases in which it could be used to also find a biomarker associated with a particular disease. Population established biobanks are big biobanks that accumulate large samples from large numbers of folks in a community. That is done to look for biomarkers for disease in a general population.
Tissue Finance institutions- Store and harvest real human tissues for transplantation, stem cell and researches based on tissues and cells
Virtual biobanks samples are accumulated and termed to meet national laws and integrate epidemiological cohorts
Population finance institutions they store organic materials associated with specialized medical, lifestyle and environmental data.
Biobank ethics
There are extensive roles which comes into effect when research workers wants to acquire a individual specimen for research and storing it. The issues that comes into effect are the right of the individuals to be private, possession of the specimen and where in fact the data is derived from. Also how far the donor can consent to the study study should be considered also to which level the donor can considerably in sharing research results. The primary issue is the fact that biobanks collect sample and data for different future research and it is not easy to obtain a specific consent for any sole research.
Biobank controversies[1] |
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issue |
consensus |
controversy |
notes |
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Commercialization |
Different aspects of biobanks serve general public, private, commercial, and non-commercial pursuits. |
How can policymakers established guidelines to fairly balance general public, private, commercial, and non-commercial pursuits? |
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Who owns natural specimens and data produced therefrom? |
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When biobanks and related tasks are publicly funded, the result will profit private industry. To what scope is this end result satisfactory? (Social Fairness). It may also undermine public trust in biobanks tasks. |
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It may skew research plan in favour of research projects which are more profitable and bargain necessary however, not profitable research. |
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discrimination, including Hereditary discrimination |
Biobanks should prevent donor areas from facing discrimination therefore of taking part in a Biobank project |
Research reveals personal information and release of it could cause participants to handle discrimination. What responsibility will the Biobank have to mitigate the condition? |
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Participants may reveal their own information because of participation in a Biobank and eventually face discrimination. What responsibility will the Biobank have to mitigate the condition? |
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informed consent |
Donors to biobanks need a consent process modified specifically to biobanks. |
What breadth of consent should biobanks have? |
[2] |
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Institutional review board |
It would be nice to truly have a sturdy governance system before biobanks are manufactured. |
How will a good governance system be designed? |
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The oversight institution looking at biobanks should be in addition to the Biobank. |
Where should checks and amounts be? |
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An individual corporation needs multinational support to do international research. |
Who should govern when research spans different countries with different legal and personal privileges standards? |
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Privacy for research participants |
Donors should have their specimens sufficiently anonymised. |
A specimen by nature includes some data about donors - how much anonym zing is enough? |
[3][4] |
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Donors have some right to give back of results. |
How does indeed one return results to anonymised donors? |
[3][5] |
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Donors have the right to withdraw from research. |
Specimens can be destroyed, but from what level should anonymised data which includes already been distributed be withdrawn? |
[5] |
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Data produced from specimens should be shared. |
Who gets gain access to and exactly how much? |
[3] |
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Changing technology helps it be difficult for researchers to say how safe participant information is. |
What protections can be guaranteed? |
[6] |
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Return of results |
Donors have the right to know the goal of a Biobank and what results it generates |
When should all donors talk about general information so when does each donor have an individual right to personal information? |
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Public consultation |
Everyone needs the researchers and community to work together. |
What resources should be spent doing outreach, and exactly how much involvement does the city want, and what role if the community have? |
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Communities should take part in writing laws, standards, and policies for research. |
How can neighborhoods be encouraged to take part, who represents the city, and how much involvement should there be? |
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Patients should be engaged when there may be research on diseases. |
When people are eager due to a disease, to what magnitude can they participate fairly without feeling obligation to aid research? |
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Communities which donate specimens to a Biobank must have special involvement in their Biobank. |
What kind of involvement? |
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Resource sharing |
Research efficiency increases greatly when resources are distributed. |
How should beneficiaries show costs? This is especially problematic when a Biobank is a national resource and another country wants usage of it. |
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Results of studies should go to the widest possible audience. |
When should this happen and in what way? Can results be released with commercial licensing for use? |