Preparation for this talk has caused me to reflect on the role Biobanks have played in enhancing my understanding of the patients I treat including those with splenectomy, HIV-infection, Coeliac disease, respiratory allergic disease and, more recently, COVID 19.
Each of these have come from studies of disease specific Biobanks with specimens collected with the view to answer specific clinical questions in patient populations sampled at times that are informative to their disease process.
Advances in data collection and specimen analysis offers the prospect of routine collection of relevant clinical data with every patient’s contact with the health system and multi-parameter analysis of co-incidentally collected centralised biobanked specimens that would remove the need for a hypothesis to initiate collection of these data and specimens.
Each of these models has its strengths and weaknesses.
Should Western Australia invest in a model that more resembles the latter (eg resembling the New South Wales Health Pathology Biobank), I would like to propose a conceptional framework under which clinical researchers may best engage with such a service.