Biobank (Photo credit: Universitetet i Tromsø)
Most people rush to a bank whenever a catastrophe strikes in order to retrieve the money from the bank. Securing the future is an important financial issue for the people. Keeping all the life savings in the bank is a common phenomenon these days. This makes sure that you are stable at the time of emergencies. Eventually the idea of keeping all your savings deposited gives you a sense of security. In case the threat happens to be more profound, the entire species is in danger. There is a solution for this too. Research centers and organizations like a bank secure the future of the entire species other than humans. Such banks are called a biobank where biological samples are stored.
Biobanks carry a whole lot of experiments and research studies. The process is very long term hence biobanking is more than only a safe deposit. Cash can be stored in any environment at any temperature and could be manipulated by anyone. There is no name or identity attached to it. However, this does not hold true for biological samples. There are rigid rules and regulations to be followed.
A complex management process is involved to store biological samples with minimum destruction. The most important factor is avoiding any kind of physical damage. All donor information is stored carefully including registration details on the computer. Biobanking is the key to global diversity other than DNA tests and medical researches. Biobanks store botanical and animal samples as well. Sample management is an important role here. It can vary to be very complex and confusing to very simple. There has to be Zero risk in mixing or misplacement of samples.
Donor’s information and rights are a very sensitive issue. Every country has own rules and regulations. For instance, Iceland shares the information between government and the donor. For states like Estonia and Tonga the samples responsibility is with the government but the donor’s right is included as well. Biobank software is extensively used to manage these activities and ensure a smooth processing. The three types of biobank software’s include customized off the shelf software, custom written software and Hybridization. The software’s maintain the specimen collection in a systemized way. They come at affordable rate that give customer flexibility. Biobanks workflow is completely managed by the software developing and updating this software is extremely important to keep up to, the changing times.
However, one of the major disadvantages of biobanking is the cost involved in setting and maintaining the same. A huge medical program aims to treat dangerous diseases like cancer and other heart diseases. Keeping a record of the health related information of millions of people is a great idea but at it is a tedious and difficult task. Reliability becomes a big issue in such research and surveys. The total cost for research and surveys is approximately $ 1000 pounds every partaker which is equivalent to five hundred million dollars.
Maintaining records of DNA samples is very costly for the management too. All blood samples have to be stored individually with a detailed record of them. Every sample needs an individual preservation container to avoid any leakage or grave climatic changes. However, to conclude matter how costly biobanking is the benefits it offers are not to miss.
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