Biobanks are the basis for medical research and represent a collection of biospecimen such as tissue, blood or urine samples linked with individual patients data. A biobank is mainly used to translate findings from basic research to the clinical application. Another application is to search for cancer specific molecular changes as a first step to discover new targets for therapy. Naturally, as more knowledge about each tissue is available as better is our understanding of research data. As it is the case for the entire body, the molecular profile of cancer cells is highly dependent on individual factors such as nutrition, drug intake or other diseases. The quality of a biobank depends on the standardization of the tissue and data collection process and the amount of clinical data. As higher the biobank quality is as better is research based on this resource.
Indivumed has established a new standard for collecting tissues and clinical data in accordance to international ethical and data protection guidelines. More than 10,000 patients already participate in this effort which is based on the following:
- Study nurses of Indivumed with special training collect according to a science based protocol tumor and normal tissue from surgically resected specimens (e.g. tissue is frozen in less than 10 minutes to preserve the original molecular picture)
- Study nurses also collect blood and urine samples at the beginning of each operation which is processed and archived by Indivumed according to standardized protocols (preparation of serum, plasma, blood cells, urine sediment).
- Study nurses document during the entire surgery all potential factors that might affect the molecular data derived from resected tumor tissue (e.g., application of drugs, surgical procedure)
- Study nurses collect all clinical data from medical notes (e.g. pathology report, diagnostic tests) and by interviewing patients. They make sure that the database has from each patient comprehensive and complete clinical information. This also includes information about postsurgical therapy and outcome.
- Document assistants control and validate data before data are released into the scientific data base. This special data base has been developed which allows correlation of all molecular research data with all individual clinical data.
It is clear that the data protection laws are fully respected as well as that all efforts are made to protect patient’s identity. The database itself does not contain identifiers of patients and scientists using samples and data can not identify the individual patient behind the data.
For further information, please contact us at info@indivumed.com.
