Celebrating Women's Contributions to Scientific Advancement

March 8, 2022, was International Women's Day, ¹ a day for celebrating women's achievements, increasing their visibility, and promoting their equality. Historically, women have made major discoveries in science and medicine. Some of these are well known, such as Marie Curie's discoveries related to radiation, Rosalind Franklin's contributions to the discovery of DNA, ² and Jane Goodall's studies of primate behavior and conservation work. ³ However, other contributions by women are less well known such as Dorothy Hodgkin's discovery of the structure of insulin, and Lise Meitner, whose work led to the discovery of nuclear fission. ³

To promote the achievements of women in science, we would like to highlight a few of the interesting and important articles that were published by women first authors in Biopreservation and Biobanking (BIO) within the past year and celebrate their contributions to scientific advancement.

In recognition of the need to ensure quality and fitness-for-purpose in biobanking, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published ISO 20387:2018. Biotechnology—Biobanking—General requirements for biobanking. ⁴ Lara Mouttham et al. in an article entitled “A Biobank's Journey: Implementation of a Quality Management System and Accreditation to ISO 20387” ⁵ describe the experience of the Cornell Veterinary Biobank (CVB) to become the first biobank in the world to achieve accreditation to ISO 20387:2018. The article discusses how the CVB prepared for accreditation and achieved compliance with the requirements of the standard, including establishing a quality management system. The authors shared their perspectives on the challenges encountered and lessoned learned in the process, providing useful information for other biobanks wishing to attain accreditation to the ISO standard.

Microsatellite (MSAT) methodology provides a genetic profile that can be used to confirm that one or more biospecimen samples came from the same individual and that aliquots of biospecimens derived over time came from the same sample. The methodology is also useful for cell line identification and authentication. However, the use of markers in the assay that are also part of the forensic Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) used by law enforcement raises privacy issues for participants whose biospecimens and data are stored in research biobanks. Smith et al. in the article entitled , “Microsatellite Markers in Biobanking: A New Multiplexed Assay” ⁶ describe the design and validation of a new MSAT assay that can be used for quality control in biobanking and cell line authentication that does not rely on these CODIS markers, thus addressing important privacy issues related to traditional MSAT approaches.

Creating research cohorts for biospecimen research requires obtaining informed consent from study participants. Typically, enrollment of participants involves obtaining broad consent to establish a database of consented cases from which a smaller group of cases fitting inclusion/exclusion criteria for a specific study may be chosen at a later time. An alternative enrollment model that has been previously described^7,8 involves obtaining a “permission to contact” (PTC) first, applying inclusion/exclusion criteria later to select appropriate cases and then obtaining complete consent at the time a study cohort is compiled. Karlene Carvalho et al. in an article entitled “A Permission to Contact Platform Is an Efficient and Cost-Effective Enrollment Method for a Biobank to Create Study-Specific Research Cohorts” ⁹ evaluated costs for compiling research cohorts based on the PTC platform versus a traditional prospective consenting approach. The authors demonstrate that the PTC approach may be an efficient and cost-effective alternative enrollment method in some cases for creating study-specific research cohorts, depending on the type of biobank model and efficiency of obtaining broad informed consent.

Operational issues related to biobank governance are an important area that has been given little attention in the literature. Effective governance is important to ensure that biospecimens collected and stored by biobanks are well utilized and contribute to advancements in science and medicine. In an article entitled, “Governance of Access in Biobanking: The Case of Telethon Network of Genetic Biobanks,” ¹⁰ Iacomussi et al. report the results of their analysis of sample requests submitted to the Telethon Network of Genetic Biobanks over a 12-year period, focusing on rejected requests and the reasons for the denial. They report the main reasons for rejection of requests and propose strategies to address them. Such efforts can help ensure that biobank governance and access procedures are reasonable and appropriate and that biobank biospecimens are effectively utilized and contribute to scientific discovery.

Effective methodologies for establishing primary tumor cell cultures from solid tumors are extremely important to support research on cancer, including glioblastoma. However, studies exploring the impact of various cryopreservation protocols on the establishment of primary glioblastoma cultures have been limited. Valyi-Nagy et al report in an article entitled “Optimization of Viable Glioblastoma Cryopreservation for Establishment of Primary Tumor Cell Cultures” ¹¹ the results of various cryopreservation methods for viable banking of glioblastoma biospecimens. They also examine whether two-dimensional or three-dimensional culture conditions are more effective in supporting growth after thawing of frozen glioblastoma biospecimens. Key determinants for the optimal recovery of viable cryopreserved glioblastoma biospecimens are identified. The results of these findings should help support the increased availability of glioblastoma cultures to advance research on this devastating type of tumor.

The cryoprotectants glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are widely used for freezing human cell cultures. Yet, their effectiveness as cryoprotectants can vary between different species and cell types. In an article by van Velthoven et al., “Increased Cell Survival of Human Primary Conjunctival Stem Cells in Dimethyl Sulfoxide-Based Cryopreservation Media,” ¹² glycerol and DMSO were compared for their effects on the survival and quality of human primary conjunctival stem cells, including proliferative, clonogenic, and differentiation capacity. DMSO was found to be superior to glycerol in their study. As conjunctival stem cells may be used in the treatment of severe conjunctival defects, these findings have the potential to improve stem cell-based therapeutics for clinical practice.

The formation of ice crystals can cause cell injury during the process of cryopreservation. Ice crystallization has been shown to be reduced by application of an external electric field during the cryopreservation process. Ma et al. in an article entitled, “Phase Change Behavior of NaCl-H₂O Binary Solution Under the Control of AC Electric Field,” ¹³ reported the results of their studies of the dielectric and thermodynamic properties of NaCL-H₂O binary solutions at subzero temperatures. The results are important for better understanding the mechanism of ice crystal formation under the application of an electric field during the freezing process and suggest that this method holds promise as an important technology in cryopreservation.

These articles, all published by women first authors in BIO in the past year, represent just a few of the noteworthy and important accomplishments of women in science. Many more important achievements by women were reflected in articles published in the past year in BIO than can be summarized here. We applaud and congratulate all our women authors and readership of BIO for their many contributions to scientific discovery and advancement!