BACKGROUND
Biospecimens are an important resource for many aspects of medical research, particularly in the cancer field. Searching for biospecimens is not an easy task and requires researchers to search for and contact many biobanks around the world. This task can be very time consuming and can be made easier with the use of online searchable catalogues that reflect the biospecimens available at a biobank.
AIM
To develop an online, publicly accessible real-time catalogue that researchers can use to find cancer biospecimens that meet their precise research requirements.
METHODS
The Health Precincts Biobank and UNSW Biospecimens Services employ the OpenSpecimen software package (v8.0, Krishangi Solutions) to manage patient and biospecimen information. The OpenSpecimen software query and catalogue functions were used to build an online biospecimen catalogue made available in our website. This can be used by researchers to find biospecimens and make initial contact.
RESULTS
Using OpenSpecimen, a biospecimen catalogue search tool was built which can be accessed online without the need for a login nor registration. The tool is intuitive to use and can be used to quickly determine if suitable biospecimens are available. De-identified biospecimens can be searched based on sample type (DNA, tissue, etc.), patient gender, anatomical site (breast, colon, etc.) or pathological status (malignant, etc.). The catalogue automatically updates as new biospecimens become available. The catalogue allows the researcher to add biospecimens of interest to a ‘cart’, add their contact details, and then initiate contact with our biobank.
CONCLUSIONS
The challenge of finding cancer biospecimens both from the researcher point of view, and biobanker point of view, can represent significant investments in time. By developing an online web-based catalogue, the time taken to identify if a biobank has appropriate sample has been reduced. The online biobank catalogue represents the first point of communication between prospective researchers and retrospectively collected cancer biospecimens.