Biobanking in Cancer Research

The availability of a biological resource such as human tissue and its derivatives for research that is fit for purpose and linked to well-annotated clinical data under approved ethical protocols is an essential facility for biomedical research, especially in the present era of personalized, translational medicine. The importance of these facilities have been recognized in the popular media with Time Magazine (2009) identifying biobanks as one of the ten tools of significance in recent times that have contributed to health and well-being [1]. Recent investments to upgrade the health department’s databases held by government and institutional registries, with electronic data mining and linkage tools, now means it is possible to perform data linkage to a specific disease, such as a cancer diagnosis and the related treatments but in addition, to have access to the other non-cancer related conditions and treatments so the effect of co-morbidities can be researched and the overall influence of the treatments determined. This important data linkage can be routinely performed by a biobank with the participant’s informed consent whilst still protecting the privacy