It’s likely that your team spends a lot of time and effort collecting biosamples. They are the basis for your research and for others as well. It’s likely that biosamples will be used in research for many years to come. It’s important to ensure that they are readily accessible, easy to manage, preserved properly, and of course, well documented. Sure, you’ve considered plenty of long-term storage possibilities. Stashing tubes, plates, and arrays of RNA, DNA, plasma, urine, blood, tissue, cell lines, or protein in a freezer isn’t the best plan. Here is some expert advice pertaining to long-term storage and management of biosamples.
Planning for Now and Later
Experiments in any industry or field need adequate preparation to be successful. Obviously, you and your team need to make sure you understand protocols before running an experiment. You’ll need to have EDTA-coated collection tubes, a bucket of ice nearby, and ready reagent in tubes ready to receive tissue samples. It’s also essential to know if the samples will be used immediately, aliquoted, or preserved for later use. All containers need to be appropriate for the application they will be used for. For example, can the vial handle liquid nitrogen? Every item needs to be labeled appropriately.
Permissions and Forms
A second area that requires great effort in planning is permissions. You’ll need patient consent forms if applicable to IRB (Institutional Review Board) consent forms. All of your clinical data needs to be linked to physical samples. However, you’ll also need to re-identify it. Best practices when handling biosamples is to rename items as it’s not recommended to have patient information or protocol information on the sample container or tube.
Designing Studies and Collecting Samples
Proper planning in regards to designing studies and sample collection help make them useful over time. Of course, you want to think about sample collection for your activities today, but don’t forget to plan for opportunities that may exist tomorrow. One example includes using cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells as a standby insurance policy. PBMCs are often kept on hand in case a lab runs out of DNA. PBMCs can be used to make a cell line if needed. When labs first began this practice, they had no idea how valuable it would be for inducing pluripotent stem cell lines in the future.
Labelling Documenting, Tracking
It’s not difficult to find standard operating procedures, checklists, or best practices for procuring and storing samples. The College of American Pathologists and the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories are both great resources. Even though the processes are not difficult, they do require training, well-maintained and monitored equipment, and data management. The most useful archives will include a well-documented chain of custody from the beginning to the end. Of course, this will include the protocol and patient information, but it will also include:
· Who procured the sample(s)
· When the samples were procured
· How the sample was processed
· How much time it took to travel from patient to freezer
· Which freezer the sample stored in
· Where the sample is stored in the freezer
· Temperature of the freezer
· Any deviations
Biobanking Samples
Consulting with a repository about the various aspects of sample procurement, management, and storage is a great resource. They are helpful whether you are archiving samples for your own projects or planning on sharing them with the scientific community. Some research facilities hire and train personnel to use the necessary software and equipment. Others let a biobank do a lot of the work for them. Outsourcing is a great option, especially when space is limited. But it can also be helpful for backups.
Final Thoughts
It doesn’t matter how extensive or modest your biosample storage needs are, you can learn from those who have gone before you. Proper preparation can not only preserve the integrity of the biosamples you have on hand presently, but it can be a valuable move even as we move into the future.
References
https://www.clinigencsm.com/a-guide-to-biological-sample-management
https://www.bioprocessonline.com/doc/standardizing-biosample-management-why-use-collection-kits-0001
http://www.stem-art.com/Library/Biobanking/Biosample%20Collection%20final%202014.pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18406002/
