Experts predict that healthcare’s future will increasingly be based on the field of personalized medicine. To move this pharmacogenetics research forward, there is a growing need for biospecimens such as blood, saliva, plasma, and purified DNA. The role of biorepositories and biobanks will be critical here. Yet, biobanks confront significant issues such as material supply, standards development, and sample tracking across multiple organizations.

Poll Question:
What is the most important issue biobanks need to deal with in order to function successfully?

Collecting usable specimens
25

Obtaining donor-patient consent
12

Data management
16

Establishing international standards
16

Keeping up with biobanking technology advances
8

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