Background
In the spring of 2020, amidst the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coordination Initiative (CRCI) identified the critical need for a provincial biobank focused on COVID-19. The BC Biobank Network (BCBN) was established in response to this need in order to support and enable COVID-19 research, which is defined as research related to the diagnosis, treatment, and cure of COVID-19.
The idea was the BCBN would collect, store, and distribute biospecimens and data from BC patients in an ethically approved framework during the COVID-19 outbreak. The biospecimens would be made available to investigators who are focusing on COVID research in BC, Canada, and globally. Research using human biological specimens from patients with COVID-19 is essential for advancing knowledge of the disease pathophysiology and elucidating novel therapeutic and diagnostic targets. Numerous COVID-19 research efforts were underway across the province that required the availability of high-quality biospecimens paired with robust clinical data.
The COVID-19 pandemic also highlighted the importance, as a province, to pivot and to develop networked approaches to understand the disease and the benefits of collaboration. Under the BCBN infrastructure, all research institutions and health authorities are partners to facilitate the coordination, collection, and storage of standardized biospecimen and data to enable high quality research across BC.
Let’s talk about biobanking
Biobanking is the activity whereby biospecimens and annotated data are collected in a standardized manner to support health research. High quality biospecimens lead to high quality impactful research and therefore biospecimens are the fuel that drives research. When a researcher obtains biospecimens from a certified biobank they can be confident that their specimens are uniform and will give rise to reliable research results.
The BCBN is a province-wide program to support and enable equitable, accessible, and translational COVID-19 research.
The BCBN has multiple benefits to the research community: decreased duplication of biobanking research infrastructure; improved standardization and annotation of biospecimens and their storage across sites; full compliance with local Research Ethics Board (REB) and regulatory requirements; a transparent biospecimen procurement process, which ensures equitable access to biospecimens by all researchers across the Province; and high quality biospecimens and accompanying phenotypic data. Figure 1 below, depicts the provincial recruitment and collection model provided by the BCBN and subsequently how specimens funnel into processing and storage sites such that they can be distributed for research.
Figure 1: Provincial collection of biospecimens and data with coordinated processing and storage for distribution to research
By creating a multi-site networked biobank, we will now be able to collect biospecimens more efficiently and effectively across the province with outreach into smaller communities where until now it was hard to participate in research. This will also help us to engage patients in longitudinal research and thereby provide biospecimens to a variety of the most promising research projects that impact acute care and treatment for thousands of British Columbians.
With the COVID-19 pandemic potentially declining but forever evolving, we have the tools in place (see Table 1) to maintain our provincial approach and address other issues facing the province in addition to COVID-19.
Table 1: Novel developments by the BCBN and their associated benefits to researchers and partners.
| Novel developments by the BCBN | Direct benefits |
|---|---|
| An electronic consent model which can be accessed from anywhere in BC. | Provincial recruitment and collection of representative biospecimens and annotating data. |
| A blood collection protocol and automated system using LifeLabs across BC directly linked to the electronic consent platform. | Allows participants to have biospecimens collected at a time and location of their convenience. |
| Coordination of provincial laboratories in partnership with PHSA Provincial Laboratory Medicine Services (PLMS). | Reduces burden on public laboratories with contracts administration and laboratory protocols. |
| Centralized IT management with maintenance and support. | A provincial biospecimen inventory management system with linked annotated data that lists all available specimens provincially. |
| Province-wide collection of biospecimens that adhere to standards that gives rise to high quality research. | Greater visibility in the national and international research landscape. |
What can the BCBN do for you?
The BCBN allows researchers to have:
- access to high quality biospecimens from COVID-19 participants across BC
- linkage to data sets that annotate biospecimens
- fit for purpose biobanking for specialized service requests
- access to BCBN biospecimen inventory management software
- access to tools and infrastructure for other healthcare issues outside of COVID-19
For more information about obtaining biospecimens from the BCBN, specific biospecimen collection services, participant requirement assistance, or you like to know more about our future plans please contact the BCBN Biobank Manager, Tamsin Tarling at bc.biobanknetwork@ubc.ca.
Become involved/future plans
- Have your say in the BCBN focus and direction.
- Standardize and streamline research biospecimen collections for new or ongoing health care issues.
- Implement staff such that research blood collections can occur in small rural communities.
- Promote the BCBN so that it becomes a known research entity across the province and is successfully utilized.
We thank the following funders for providing funds to enable this endeavor:
- UBC Faculty of Medicine Strategic Investment Fund
- UBC Faculty of Medicine donor
- Genome BC
- St Paul’s Foundation donor
Contact Us
Learn more by visiting our website: https://bcbiobanknetwork.med.ubc.ca or contacting us by email: bc.biobanknetwork@ubc.ca