Data sharing across biobanks: epistemic values,data mutability and data incommensurability

Despite the centrality of epistemic issues in biobank knowledge generation, there is currently a lacuna in research addressing the epistemic assumptions of biobank science and data sharing. The article addresses this lacuna. Using the insights of philosophical and sociological analysis, we examine standardization and harmonization and central challenges biobank data-sharing faces. We defend two central epistemic values, namely “spatial and temporal translatability” and “epistemic adequacy” which foster effective biobank knowledge generation. The first refers to the way in which biobank data need to be re-usable and re-purposable by bioscience researchers who did not create them. Given the perennial issues of data mutability and incommensurability, we also propose “epistemic adequacy.” In uncovering the social and epistemic foundations of biobank science, we emphasize issues essential for achieving effective and transparent biobank practice and productive communication and engagement with the public about the nature, potential and limits of biobanks.     

Beyond and within public engagement: a broadened approach to engagement in biobanking

Social studies on biobanking have traditionally focused on public engagement, that is, engagement with donors, patients and the general public as an important factor of sustainability. In this article, we claim that, in order to fully understand the way biobanks work, it is necessary to pay attention to a number of other actors, which have an equal, if not greater, impact on their practices and strategies. This means taking a broadened approach to biobank engagement. By using data collected from interviews with different biobank experts based in five different countries (UK, Canada, Finland, Spain and Iceland), we identify seven communities, including the public, that emerge as relevant. Such relationships condition the way biobanks develop, act and plan. The discussion illustrates how the relationships with those seven communities are articulated. We conclude that there is a need for a broadened approach to biobank engagement in order to understand biobank sustainability.     

生物样本库是生物医学研究的重要基础

在生物医学研究飞速发展的今天,随着对健康和疾病认识的不断深入,传统的单病因、单基因研究模式已难以胜任复杂疾病的研究.医学科学的发展需要一种能提供疾病相关的、具有普遍意义的、全局式的分子信息数据库.生物样本库在其中所能发挥的关键作用得到了越来越多的重视.它从最初的小作坊模式经过100多年,尤其是近30年的快速发展已经演化成为科研院所和政府支持的生物样本库、商业化生物样本库及以人口为基础的生物银行等多种模式.伴随存储样本数据信息的复杂度不断快速增加,生物样本库除了收集样本相关的基本数据和诊断信息外,还延伸到配套信息,包括参加人和病人的多种表型,到目前已经迅速扩展到基因组学、蛋白质组学及其他的组学信息.如何科学地建设和管理这种大型复杂模式的生物样本库成为医学科学领域亟待规范、解决的问题.本文将从生物样本库的发展入手重点讨论其建设、管理和应用.     

Biobank resources for future patient care: developments, principles and concepts

The aim of the overview is to give a perspective of global biobank development is given in a view of positioning biobanking as a key resource for healthcare to identify new potential markers that can be used in patient diagnosis and complement the targeted personalized drug treatment. The fast progression of biobanks around the world is becoming an important resource for society where the patient benefit is in the focus, with a high degree of personal integrity and ethical standard. Biobanks are providing patient benefits by large scale screening studies, generating large database repositories. It is envisioned by all participating stakeholders that the biobank initiatives will become the future gateway to discover new frontiers within life science and patient care. There is a great importance of biobank establishment globally, as biobanks has been identified as a key area for development in order to speed up the discovery and development of new drugs and protein biomarker diagnostics. One of the major objectives in Europe is to establish concerted actions, where biobank networks are being developed in order to combine and have the opportunity to share and build new science and understanding from complex disease biology. These networks are currently building bridges to facilitate the establishments of best practice and standardizations.     

Biobank governance: a lesson in trust

Biobanks are controversial due to their ethical, legal, and social implications. Recent discussion has highlighted a central role for governance in helping to address these controversies. We argue that sustainable governance of biobanks needs to be informed by public discourse. We present an analysis of a deliberative public engagement to explore the public values, concerns, and interests underlying recommendations pertaining to biobank governance. In particular, we identify five themes underlying expressed goals and concerns of participants regarding the development, operation and application of biobank research. Ultimately, we argue that, for the deliberants, governance represented a way to achieve trust in biobanks through accountability, transparency and control. As discussion of biobank governance moves the conceptual to the specific, policy makers and researchers should acknowledge the importance of the public viewpoint in maintaining trust; this acknowledgement is of importance to the ultimate success and longevity of biobanks.     

转化医学与生物样本库现状

转化医学(translational medicine)是近10年来国际生物医学领域出现的新概念和重点研究方向,其为一种倡导实验室与临床研究双向转化的模式,而这种模式的核心意义之一便体现在协作与资源共享方面。这便促使生物样本库成为了转化医学的战略资源。本文在分析发达国家促进转化医学发展政策的同时分析了生物样本库建设的现状、趋势和问题,旨在为我国制定转化医学发展战略,建设生物样本库,促进转化医学发展提供参考。     

Public Opinion about the Importance of Privacy in Biobank Research

Concerns about privacy may deter people from participating in genetic research. Recruitment and retention of biobank participants requires understanding the nature and magnitude of these concerns. Potential participants in a proposed biobank were asked about their willingness to participate, their privacy concerns, informed consent, and data sharing. A representative survey of 4659 U.S. adults was conducted. Ninety percent of respondents would be concerned about privacy, 56% would be concerned about researchers having their information, and 37% would worry that study data could be used against them. However, 60% would participate in the biobank if asked. Nearly half (48%) would prefer to provide consent once for all research approved by an oversight panel, whereas 42% would prefer to provide consent for each project separately. Although 92% would allow academic researchers to use study data, 80% and 75%, respectively, would grant access to government and industry researchers. Concern about privacy was related to lower willingness to participate only when respondents were told that they would receive $50 for participation and would not receive individual research results back. Among respondents who were told that they would receive $200 or individual research results, privacy concerns were not related to willingness. Survey respondents valued both privacy and participation in biomedical research. Despite pervasive privacy concerns, 60% would participate in a biobank. Assuring research participants that their privacy will be protected to the best of researchers'' abilities may increase participants'' acceptance of consent for broad research uses of biobank data by a wide range of researchers.     

Biobanks: transnational, European and global networks.

Biobanks contain biological samples and associated information that are essential raw materials for advancement of biotechnology, human health, and research and development in life sciences. Population-based and disease-oriented biobanks are major biobank formats to establish the disease relevance of human genes and provide opportunities to elucidate their interaction with environment and lifestyle. The developments in personalized medicine require molecular definition of new disease subentities and biomarkers for identification of relevant patient subgroups for drug development. These emerging demands can only be met if biobanks cooperate at the transnational or even global scale. Establishment of common standards and strategies to cope with the heterogeneous legal and ethical landscape in different countries are seen as major challenges for biobank networks. The Central Research Infrastructure for Molecular Pathology (CRIP), the concept for a pan-European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) global Biological Resources Centres network are examples for transnational, European and global biobank networks that are described in this article.     

Safeguarding donors’ personal rights and biobank autonomy in biobank networks: the CRIP privacy regime

Governance, underlying general ICT (Information and Communication Technology) architecture, and workflow of the Central Research Infrastructure for molecular Pathology (CRIP) are discussed as a model enabling biobank networks to form operational “meta biobanks” whilst respecting the donors’ privacy, biobank autonomy and confidentiality, and the researchers’ needs for appropriate biospecimens and information, as well as confidentiality. Tailored to these needs, CRIP efficiently accelerates and facilitates research with human biospecimens and data.     

Banking human tissue for research: vision to reality

Advances in scientific understanding of disease together with introduction of new high throughput technologies have led to increased demand for human tissue in research. In general, patients are willing to donate for research, particularly samples that are surplus to diagnostic or therapeutic requirements. New tissue-specific regulations in the UK are intended to facilitate the use of human tissue in research. Despite this positive environment there are challenges to researcher access. Coordinated, systematic collection and storage, via a biobank can provide easier access. However translating a vision for a biobank into reality whether in the public or private sector, has never been simple. But it can be done.     

Making it transparent. On naming,framing and administrating biobank research on native people

Despite more than 50 years of genetic research on Sámi people in Sweden, there has been very little engagement with the ethical issues related to this research. My aim is to investigate the ethical challenges in biobank research on Sámi people, to identify ethical challenges that have been overlooked and to find ethical solutions. In my historical research inquiry of published material and interviews with people that have participated in this research, my research questions have been: How are blood samples from Sámi people collected, codified, governed and analyzed? What ethical strategies have been utilized? My main findings are: Sweden acquired biobank collections from Sámi people that are not registered or cannot be traced through the biobank register at the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. These collections entail ethical challenges concerning how the donors are identified, how the material is categorized, the regional ethical committees, governance and Sámi representation. My suggestions focus on transparency and traceability, competence and native peoples' rights and representation in biobank-related activities.     

Model requirements for Biobank Software Systems

Biobanks are essential tools in diagnostics and therapeutics research and development related to personalized medicine. Several international recommendations, standards and guidelines exist that discuss the legal, ethical, technological, and management requirements of biobanks. Today's biobanks are much more than just collections of biospecimens. They also store a huge amount of data related to biological samples which can be either clinical data or data coming from biochemical experiments. A well-designed biobank software system also provides the possibility of finding associations between stored elements. Modern research biobanks are able to manage multicenter sample collections while fulfilling all requirements of data protection and security. While developing several biobanks and analyzing the data stored in them, our research group recognized the need for a well-organized, easy-to-check requirements guideline that can be used to develop biobank software systems. International best practices along with relevant ICT standards were integrated into a comprehensive guideline: The Model Requirements for the Management of Biological Repositories (BioReq), which covers the full range of activities related to biobank development. The guideline is freely available on the Internet for the research community. AVAILABILITY: The database is available for free at http://bioreq.astridbio.com/bioreq_v2.0.pdf.     

A pharmacoeconomic analysis of the collection and preservation of samples in the biobank of the “Instituto Nacional de Cancerología” in Mexico City

In this work we estimated the budgetary impact of the samples produced by the biobank of the “Instituto Nacional de Cancerología” (BT-INCan) to set a recuperation fee from the perspective of the Health Ministry of Mexico. The study is an observational retrospective review of the direct medical costs (DMCs) of the processes involved in cryopreservation of the samples collected, on a per sample basis, including materials, laboratory tests, personnel, and administrative costs. Materials and labor costs were determined by information collected from the BT-INCan. DMCs were provided depending on the type of sample: plasma, tissue and biopsy; they were calculated according to the process required to preserve them. Sensitivity analysis was performed using bootstrap. Recuperation costs ranged from 130 to 155 USD. Costs were considered on a 5-year time frame for the maintenance per sample, which is the average time that a sample is kept in the BT-INCan. The cost analysis is perceived as an approximation to the most adequate recuperation fee per sample needed to guarantee the correct development of the BT-INCan. This work provides a basis and valuable information about costs, to enable several health institutions to strategically plan and manage a biobank or even motivate to establish their own biobank.     

Life as an Intelligence Test: Intelligence,Education, and Behavioral Genetics

Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry - Using the large datasets available with new gene sequencing and biobank projects, behavioral geneticists are developing tools that attempt to predict individual...     

Establishing a neurological-psychiatric biobank: banking, informatics, ethics

The recent development of genetic databases and biobanks in a number of countries reflects scientist's beliefs in the future health benefits to be derived from genetic research. The NEPSYBANK is a national program of the Hungarian Clinical Neurogenetic Society with comprehensive participation of the Neurology and Psychiatry Departments of Medical Universities and the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology. The NEPSYBANK forms a part of the national biobank project (www.biobank.hu). The goal is to establish nationwide collaboration and common biobanking standards on quality, access, and protection of integrity in the field of neurology and psychiatry. Biological materials and databases are already collected in stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, motoneuron diseases, dementia, movement disorders, schizophrenia, and alcohol addiction. In peripheral neuropathies, neuropathic pain syndromes, muscle diseases, migraine, myasthenia gravis, depression, panic disease, anxiety, autism, and software development is in progress. The resources have been expanded by continued prospective collection of samples and data and important bottlenecks in sample purification, sample retrieval, in protection of the integrity of the research participants, as well as in guaranteeing the security and confidentiality of the participant's information have been harmonized. The development of uniform consent management, comprehensive sample overview and quality standards for health care-related biobanking may provide a unique opportunity for Hungary in molecular clinically oriented research. The program is a diseased-based research biobank with comprehensive collection of phenotypic and environmental information as well as biobanking of DNA, RNA or buffy coat, plasma, and erythrocytes stored at -80 degrees C. The biobank has a neuropathological part as well: storing conventional pathology and biopsy specimens. The analytical and informational demands being created by biobanking requires a "connectivity of community" that has not traditionally been present in the life sciences. As you put more resources into something, your silos tend to become taller, and we need to avoid this. The life science and healthcare community should be ignored working in individual "silos."     

Protecting participants, promoting progress: public perspectives on community advisory boards (CABs) in biobanking

Few studies have explored public perspectives on community advisory board (CAB) involvement in biobank-based research. This study held focus groups (n = 7) with 48 individuals residing in the catchment of an emerging comprehensive tissue and DNA biobank in the state of Iowa. Participants recognized benefits of bringing CABs into biobank oversight, including additional levels of protection they could afford research participants. Yet, CAB goals of protecting participants were also seen as potentially antithetical to research and medical progress. Participants expressed uncertainty about the relationship of CABs to IRBs, communities, and industry. Findings suggest members of the public are in principle supportive of CAB involvement in biobanking, yet anticipate a range of problems and concerns. These perceptions will need to be proactively addressed.     

Biobanking and international interoperability: samples

In terms of sample exchange, international collaborations between biobanks, or between biobanks and their research partners, have two important aspects. First, the donors’ consent usually implies that the scope and purpose of any sample transfer to third parties is subject to major constraints. Since the legal, ethical and political framework of biobanking may differ substantially, even between countries of comparable jurisdictional systems, general rules for the international sharing of biomaterial are difficult, if not impossible, to define. Issues of uncertainty include the right to transfer the material, the scope of research allowed, and intellectual property rights. Since suitable means of international law enforcement may not be available in the context of biobanking, collaborators are advised to clarify any residual uncertainty by means of bilateral contracts, for example, in the form of material transfer agreements. Second, biobank partners may rightly expect that the biomaterial they receive for further analysis attains a certain level of quality. This implies that a biobank has to implement stringent quality control measures covering, in addition to the material transfer itself, the whole process of material acquisition, transport, pre-analytical handling and storage. Again, it may be advisable for biobank partners to claim contractual warranties for the type and quality of the biomaterial they wish to acquire.     

生物银行支撑全球生物多样性研究与保护的实践与探索

要更好地保护全球生物多样性, 人类不仅需要正确认知生物多样性的本质与规律, 还需要审时度势地发展生物多样性保护的载体, 以此提升生物多样性保护的社会价值和经济效益。本文旨在探讨生物银行对生物多样性研究与保护工作的促进作用, 解决生物银行资源库功能同质化严重、维护困难与急需向更高层次演化等三个主要问题。本文系统回顾了国内外生物银行的缘起与现状, 通过归纳与演绎的方法介绍了国内外人类基因组银行、动植物种质银行、生态银行与生物多样性银行的基本特征、运营模式与实践经验。本文的主要观点有: (1)不受时空限制的外向型数据驱动模式是人类基因组银行的主要特征, 本质是技术外包式的共性技术平台, 它的最主要的盈利方式是通过收集、存储人体生物样本, 并将其整理成为医学研究机构、制药企业、政府医疗部门需要的医学数据; (2)受特定时空限制的内向型需求驱动模式是动植物种质银行的主要特征, 它更聚焦代表性动植物及微生物的信息样本普查与测序, 并提倡在中试平台上进行早期小规模的实践活动; (3)自然资本与金融资本结合的发展模式是生态银行的最大特色, 它作为分散零碎的生态资源和产业投资商与运营商之间的中介平台, 把环境资源未破坏但缺乏驱动机制的区域进行人才、技术与资本的快速重组; (4)绑定实体金融机构与科研院所是生物多样性银行的最大特征, 它以第三方专业的授信与评级机构的形象出现, 其本质是通过环境破坏与环境治理、投入成本与产出收益两个维度的博弈获得两个高附加值的固定收益及增值收益。文章还提出了生物银行成为全球生物多样性研究与保护的重要载体的建议: (1)在建设层面要加强顶层设计, (2)在研究层面要理清知识产权权属, (3)在应用层面防止科技伦理的沦丧, (4)在管理层面要建立通用标准, (5)在产业层面要综合衍生品的设计。     

RECONSIDERING THE VALUE OF CONSENT IN BIOBANK RESEARCH

Biobanks for long‐term research pose challenges to the legal and ethical validity of consent to participate. Different models of consent have been proposed to answer some of these challenges. This paper contributes to this discussion by considering the meaning and value of consent to participants in biobanks. Empirical data from a qualitative study is used to provide a participant view of the consent process and to demonstrate that, despite limited understanding of the research, consent provides the research participants with some level of control and a form of self determination that they value. Participation is framed as a moral act of a responsible citizen providing reinforcement of self identity. Consent symbolizes the trust invested in researchers and research institutions to use the biobank for the public good. The paper argues that consent continues to play an important role in biobank participation and that a participant view should inform proposals to modify consent processes.