Biopreservation and Biobanking

Biopreservation and Biobanking is the first journal to provide a unifying forum for the peer-reviewed communication of recent advances in the emerging and evolving field of biospecimen procurement, processing, preservation and banking, distribution, and use. The Journal publishes a range of original research, review and special feature articles focusing on current challenges and problems in biopreservation, and advances in methods to address these issues related to the processing of macromolecules, cells, and tissues for research. Ideas and practical solutions are discussed relevant to improved quality, efficiency, and sustainability of biobanks/repositories, as well as their management, operation and oversight. The journal also welcomes articles that explore the ethical, legal, and societal considerations surrounding biobanking and biorepository governance and operation. Finally, the Journal highlights the Emerging Markets and Technologies that are influencing biobanks and their impact on society. The solutions presented here are anticipated to help drive innovation within the biobank community.

Submitted manuscripts should present novel and/or broadly important findings or concepts that are influential to the field of biopreservation and biobanking. Papers that simply describe the profile of a biobank, it’s holdings and/or distribution efforts and are not supported by in-depth research data or novel findings or concepts that are more broadly applicable to other biobanks are not generally deemed acceptable for publication in the journal.

Biopreservation and Biobanking coverage includes:

Biospecimen preservation and handling topics including but not limited to:

• Biospecimen preservation including the evaluation of pre-analytic variables and methods validation
• Cellular and molecular mechanisms of biopreservation
• Mechanisms of cryoinjury and its prevention during cooling and warming processes
•  Cryopreservation of living cells, tissues, and organs
•  Novel biopreservation technologies
•  Optimization protocols for storage, biopackaging and transport of biospecimens
•  Freezing and vitrification mechanisms and their applications in biopreservation
•  Stem cell banking
•  Novel methodologies for gamete cryopreservation to support species conservation
•  Organoid systems
•  Natural systems models

Biobank operations topics including but not limited to:

• Best practices for biobanking, including the collection, storage, distribution, and use of specimens and associated data
• Biobanking standards, training and accreditation programs
• Biobanking informatics systems
• Artificial intelligence in biobanking
• Biobanking automation technologies
• Biobanking quality assurance and control
• Quality and risk management for biobanking
• Biobanking disaster preparedness
• Biobanking culling or decommissioning strategies
• Governance, management, and oversight of biobanks/biorepository operations
• Academic, industry and non-profit collaborations related to biobanking
• Biobank metrics and evaluation
• Biobank business planning, sustainability and economics
• Biosafety

Ethical/legal/regulatory considerations/societal implications related to biobanking and biospecimen research including but not limited to:

• Biospecimen and data sharing
• Secondary use of biospecimens and associated data
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Cultural considerations
• Community engagement
• Informed consent
• Return of research results
• Benefit sharing

Biopreservation and Biobanking is under the editorial leadership of Editor-in-Chief Marianna Bledsoe, MA; Deputy Editors Dayong Gao, PhD, and Amanda Rush, MPH, PhD; European Editor William Mathieson, PhD; and Asian Editor Junmei Zhou, MD, PhD; and other leading investigators.

Audience: Biobankers, biological preservation scientists, cell biologists, pathologists, researchers utilizing biospecimens for research on a wide variety of conditions and diseases, ethicists and policy makers, among others.