The Australasian Biospecimen Network –

Maximising a Valuable Tissue Resource for Researchers

Michelle Fleming, Dan Catchpoole, Anna deFazio, Lisa Devereux, Chris Schmidt, Heather Thorne, Nik Zeps

Australasian Biospecimen Network

The Australasian Biospecimen Network (ABN) is a professional body established in 2002 to provide a forum to address technical, legal / ethical, and managerial issues relevant to human biospecimen repositories. The ABN is composed of a variety of specialists involved in tissue banking. The basic tissue banking process involves the storage (with patient consent) of tissues removed during surgery/biopsies that are in excess to diagnostic needs. These tissue specimens can then be supplied for use in research projects with HREC approval

ABN-Oncology,a subgroup of ABN, is a network of Tissue Banks around Australia with a focus on the collection of biospecimens for cancer research, and is supported in part by an NHMRC Enabling Grant, awarded in July 2004. This funding will be used to:

§ Support and enhance existing tissue collection at the 6 member banks

§ Establish a new pan-Australia Mesothelioma Tissue Bank

§ Enable the development of a web-based specimen location search page to create a single point of contact for research enquiries.

Types of tissue collected include melanoma, mesothelioma, breast, colon, gastric, haematological, lung, paediatric, and prostate cancers.

This project will streamline researcher access to tissue samples, increase the rate of tissue collection and provide standardised collection protocols and best practice guidelines thus facilitating important research into the causes and treatment of cancer. Furthermore, the web-based search page will have the scope to allow other tissue banks to readily join the network, resulting in comprehensive management of all research enquiries and requests.