in recent years, the rapid development of high-throughput biotechnology, various kinds of genomics and bioinformatics have promoted the studies on personalized medicine and translational medicine. through the studies on translational medicine, a bridge can be built between basic medicine and clinical research so that the laboratory research findings can be rapidly translated from bench to bedside, and thus benefiting the patients.
as precious resource for both basic and clinical research, biobanks are the basis of studies on translational medicine. the rapid development of translational medicine has intensified the need for high-quality biospecimens. in 2009, american national cancer institute (nci) set up the first national human biobank for researching new treatments of various illnesses, the project of which was awarded by times one of the “2009 top ten changing-the-world conceptions.
with the advancing of key project for biobank development in the national science & technology program during the twelfth five-year plan period, china has witnessed a rapid development in biobanks, particularly the disease based biobanks and the population based biobanks. abc 2015 will explore the latest development, share best practice and feature first-hand experience in the management of biobanks and application of biosamples, discuss on the role of biobanks in precision medicine.
