Biobanks. A research infrastructure for the future of ... · opportunities to investigate the relationships between diet, nutritional status, lifestyle and environmental factors and

Biobanks. A research infrastructure for thefuture of nutritional research

1,2Guadagni F., 1,2Ferroni P., 1Spila A., 1Riondino S., 1,2Palmirotta R., 1Valente M.G.,1Della Morte D., 3Nanni U., 4Roselli M.

1BioBIM (Interinstitutional Multidisciplinary Biobank) San Raffaele Research Center, IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome;2San Raffaele Rome University; 3Sapienza University of Rome; 3University of Rome Tor Vergata

All these tasks, however, critically depend upon theavailability of a large number of standardizedspecimens at the point that many research activitiesare seriously invalidated by the heterogeneous qualityof the human specimens used. In particular, pre-

Repository banks for biological samples are defined as oper ational units that provide a servicefor the storage and management of biological material and as sociated clinical data. These, ifproperly complemented with dietary assessment of food and n utrient intake, may offer uniqueopportunities to investigate the relationships between di et, nutritional status, lifestyle andenvironmental factors and the incidence of several disease s, as in the case of the EPIC studyheld within the framework of the European network of Biobank s BBMRI.

In the BioBIM the possibility togain exhaustive records onthe whole life cycle of biobankstored samples and theirquality has been achieved bymeans of RFID tag technology

repo

rtin

g

OLA

P

data

min

ing

Datamart -1 Datamart -2 Datamart -3

externalsystem-1

externalsystem-2

exte

rnal

ser

vice

s

quality control& active

monitoring

of the human specimens used. In particular, pre-analytical variations render the results derived fromspecimen of different biobanks and, often, within thesame biobank, incomparable. Thus, the need toeliminate, as much as possible, all variables arisingfrom specimen collection, preparation or storage, inorder to guarantee that the distributed samples meetthe required specifications. This would ultimatelypreserve the accuracy, reproducibility and compara-bility of results among different research groups.

means of RFID tag technologyand of standard pre-analyticalcoding system (SPREC code).Moreover, thanks to aBusiness Intelligence platformand Service OrientedArchitectures, the BioBIM iscurrently involved in a multi-institutional biobankingnetwork of reference withinthe southern Italy aimed atdefining common preanalyticalprocedures to standardizebiospecimen collection andpreservation, identifying a setof “key biomarkers” to be usedin assessing sample qualityand strengthening of thescientific value of biologicalcollections within the network.

The BioBIM ProjectThe BioBIM (Interinstitutional Multidisciplinary Biobank, IRCCSSan Raffaele Pisana, Rome) is an interinstitutional center thatpromotes participation of peripheral health structures that do nothave biobanking infrastructures. The structural characteristics,organization and management of the BioBIM allows thedevelopment of its research potential in a shorter time than asingle institution. Moreover, the participation of various centerswith diversified health care expertise, determines themultidisciplinary nature of the collection and the ability to create/develop a network of multicentric and multidisciplinary Institutes.

LIS

•sample-ID

•preanalytical

info

SPRECbase

SPRECencoder

LAB

DB

customization required

SPREC-coded information

1

2

3

4

SPREC-codes

sample ID SPREC-code

2349087 SER-SST-A-E-N-A-G

2349089 SER-SST-A-E-N-A-F

... ...

SPRECware

clinicaldata

records

Lab-1data

dev1 dev2 dev3

Datawarehouse

Datamart -1 Datamart -2 Datamart -3

Lab-2data

devA devB devC

externalsystem-A

externalsystem-B

patientdata

samplecollection

Hospitals/Institutions

ETL – data integration

We developed a pilot study on afragment of the life cycle, namelythe storage between the end of thepreanalytics and the beginning ofthe analytics, which is usually nottraced by automated tools becauseit typically includes manualhandling.Italian network San Camillo - Forlanini

Bio.Ca.Re.

5 different disease-based biorepositories have been struc tured:1.Cancer diseases2.Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases3.Neurodegenerative diseases4.Developmental disabilities5.Rare diseases

Healthy volunteers are also recruited

handling.

By adopting RFID devices weidentified the possible critical timedelays.

At 6, 12, 24 and 36 months RFID-tagged specimens cryopreservedat -80°C were successfully read.

ROMA

National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

Diabetes Research Institute University of

Miami, Miller School of Medicine, USA

International Institute of Anticancer Research, Atene, Grecia

San Raffaele Foundation

San Raffaele SpA, Catania

Stroke Unit, Universityof Perugia

Universityof Palermo

University of Naples Federico II

Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg and International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER)

Medical Oncology, Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

Department of Computer, Control, and Management

Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome

Anti-diabetic Italian network ofthe Sovereign Order of Malta

Department of Surgery, San Camillo Hospital, Roma

Department of Surgery, San Giovanni Hospital, Roma

Area VastaRomagna e I.R.S.T.

IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome

Italian network ACISMOM

San Camillo - ForlaniniHospital, Rome

Unità Sanitaria Locale 2 Salerno

San Raffaele Cassino Hospital, Rome

University of PerugiaStroke Unit

BioBIM

Bank 1

Bank 2

Bank 3

Bank 4

Bank 5

Healthy

donors

San Giovanni Addolorata Hospital, Rome

Area Vasta Romagna e I.R.S.T.