VIRTUAL BIOBANKS DATA MINING TO ENABLE DISEASE CURES SOONER

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Jeffrey Newman

Virtual biobank is a  developing concept created to assist researchers in tracking human tissue samples for testing and data mining towards new disease therapies. The concept of a central biobank containing the greatest numbers of tissue samples that are analyzed and translated into usable data, has failed to develop as a result of privacy concerns and technical difficulties in accomplishing the task. Presently is it hard to track and locate quality human tissue samples in biobanks for genomic studies or other research studies. 5AM solutions’ Biolocator software is an open source solution designed to connect biobanks and researchers around the world. Recently the company was contracted by the State of Arizona to create a vitual repository for hospitals to deposit their inventory of data. Researchers can then review the inventory online knowing what samples would be available for study and at what cost in proposed research. Using the biobank data, scientists can look at the effects of environment, lifestyle and chronic disease and compare that against genomic information. The potential for the development of individualized treatment and the study of disease development are significant. Biobanking has become a major topic and businesses are developing around this valuable source of study. The need for high quality, well maintained specimins for research is critical. With new technologies and advances in data mining, compounds with significant potential will lead to swifter drug development, especially if tissues are available for testing.