Abstract
A key driver for ISBER's structural evolution is our desire to provide increased opportunities for engagement. As an introduction to some of these opportunities, a series of town halls is describing the objectives and plans for selected communities of practice (CoPs), working groups (WGs), and special interest groups (SIGs). The first of these town halls was held on December 13, 2022. Hosted by the ISBER Board of Directors (BOD), this first town hall addressed the work of the standards CoPs and the pediatric SIG. We wanted the membership to understand the priorities of each group and some of the new initiatives that are under development.
The town hall began with an introduction from Clare Allocca, president of the BOD, who noted that ISBER continues to support the biobanking community through its technical groups—CoPs, SIGs, and WGs. It is intended that the combination of these group types offers an array of fora for discussions, networking, idea incubation, education, and product development. The first presentation of this town hall would describe a CoP: standards.
Mieke De Wilde, Standards Community of Practice Chair, spoke about the foci for standards—education and tools. She highlighted the biobankers' toolbox that is available to biobankers, and noted that these various tools can assist biobanks in their quest to increase fitness for purpose. She highlighted several tools that are developed by ISBER—Standard PREanalyticalCode, qualification in biorepository science (QBRS), biobank assessment tool (BAT), the proficiency testing program at IBBL and internal audit tool (IAT), and noted how they can work together.
Mieke then focused her presentation on the QBRS. She highlighted the partnership that we have with the American Society for Clinical Pathology—Board of Certification to develop this examination. She highlighted the usage of the BAT noting that we have more than doubled the number of users in 2022 compared with 2021 in both new users and repeat users.
She noted that the fifth edition of ISBER Best Practices (BP) is currently under development. She highlighted that the new edition was based on a gap analysis that occurred in late 2021 and early 2022.
Questions were fielded from the audience. A member asked for clarification on the difference between the BAT and the IAT. Mieke noted that the BAT allows for self-assessment of your biobank, whereas the IAT will facilitate biobanks to create an audit program, engage personnel, and implement the audit plan. People asked for clarification as to how the QBRS will change in years to come. Mieke noted that a review of the QBRS examination would be done in 2023. Members asked for feedback on how biobanks can raise funds; the panelists noted that support can come from charities, project support, and services.
It was noted that biobankers have to ensure a case is made for funding both initially and ongoing. The group discussed how to develop a value proposition for biobanks. Next to financial revenue, the importance of sustainability in other domains was mentioned, such as in ethical, legal, and social issues; reproducibility of scientific output; and product development. Members asked whether the ISBER tools can be used more than once; Mieke noted that there is great value in using the tools for multiple years in a row.
In doing so, the benefits of small quality improvement steps add to each other every time the biobank runs through the plan-do-check-act cycle. For example, repeated use of the BAT can inform the biobank on overall quality improvement over the years. The IAT can be used to develop a comprehensive audit program addressing all aspects of the biobank operations. Both can feed into an annual review of the biobanks quality policy.
Clare introduced Dr. Rania Labib who represented the pediatric SIG. She noted that she wished to highlight the goals, activities, and dreams. She noted that the goal is to increase awareness and issues that may be of interest to this group. She highlighted the work that the SIG did to create a special issue in BIO in April 2021. She highlighted that another important role that this group tries to achieve is to develop a platform to exchange expertise. It is important to create a collaborative environment to increase accessibility for sample sharing. The group determined a new set of specific priorities for the future—(1) evaluate the ISBER BP from the pediatric perspective, (2) create better visibility to pediatric collections worldwide, and (3) to start having a platform and collaboration with pharma.
Rania noted that the biggest challenge are the ethical concerns as the pediatric group deals with young patients and parents. It was noted that exchange of samples for this group is limited, which makes collaboration hard to initiate and maintain. Rania noted that the pediatric group helps facilitate collaboration. Rania noted that joining this group has helped her develop her passion; she noted that it is empowering to work with others who face similar challenges and brainstorm solutions to common problems. It is great to be able to work together. She noted that the SIG helped her network. On a personal and professional level, this has helped her. The group discussed the role of the pathologist and how we may be able to increase engagement; it was noted that pathologists should be involved in each step of biobanking.
A general discussion ensued. The group suggested a toolkit for resource-constrained countries. Panelists highlighted that there are grants available for low and middle income countries to take the QBRS. The group discussed how we may get cross-talk between the SIGs, WGs, and CoPs. Mieke noted that multiple tools were developed in the biospecimen science WG and some are now updated by standards CoP. The group discussed the concept of evidence-based trust.
Clare closed the session by noting that she hoped that we had inspired people to remain involved. The ISBER BOD will be hosting a second town hall that will feature the work of other CoPs, WGs, and SIGs in the new year. We invite all members to participate.