Want to learn more about biobanking? Need to evaluate your existing procedures and practices? The University of Minnesota’s Biopreservation Core Resource is offering what amounts to short courses in biobanking on May 19 and 20, 2015. Attend in person, or participate via webcast.
Biobanking can seem like a “cold black box” process. Samples are processed, labeled, stored and retrieved. For many involved in biobanking, it is not clear that processing and storing a biospecimen should be based on core scientific principles in order for the biospecimen to be useful for downstream applications. Biobanking also requires an infrastructure: equipment, biospecimen management systems that may include labels and label readers, and information systems for linking important data about the biospecimen with the actual specimen. The course is intended to connect those interested in biobanking with the key elements needed to start a biobank and collect high-quality biospecimens. For current biobanks, the short course exposes attendees to the knowledge and skills needed to critically evaluate current practices and improve them.
Topics covered in the course include:
- Establishing a biobank
- Budgeting and cost recovery
- Understanding the scientific principles behind storage and processing of biospecimens
- Protocol development
- Daily best practices in the collection, processing and storage of biospecimens
- Informed consent
- Stabilization of nucleic acids
- Quality control programs for biobanks
- Designing a storage facility
- Sustainable biobank processes
- Protein stabilization
The lecturers for the course are experts in their field from all around the country:
- Andrew Brooks, PhD, Rutgers University, will lecture on quality control in biobanking.
- Allison Hubel, PhD, University of Minnesota, will lecture on scientific bases for selecting and processing biospecimens and protocol development.
- Ian Pope, PhD, CryoAssociates, Gaithersburg, MD, will lecture on repository design.
- Amy Skubitz, PhD, University of Minnesota, will lecture on establishing a biobank, budgeting and cost recovery, daily best practices, and informed consent.
Web attendees have the option of watching the lectures live and calling in with questions, chatting live with lecturers, or watching the lectures on delay. Groups of two or more attending the short course from the same organization receive a discount. Find out more about this biobanking course on the BioCoR website or email biocor@me.umn.edu.
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