The International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) hosted its annual meeting from May 10-14, 2021 and it was attended by several representatives from the NIGMS Repository and the Coriell Institute’s Repository Leadership Team. The virtual meeting included keynote addresses, poster presentations, roundtable discussions, and networking sessions, for the biobanking community to connect and collaborate with one another.
The Coriell Institute hosted a roundtable discussion entitled, “Biobanking During COVID: Minimizing Risk And Maximizing Operations”, at which participants discussed their experiences managing biobanks during the pandemic. Director of Repository Operations, Dr. Kathryn Driesbaugh, and Director of Repository Science Dr. Laura Scheinfeldt, facilitated this conversation with biobanking experts from around the world. “It was a great opportunity to connect with other biobanking leaders in the field”, says Dr. Driesbaugh. “Attendees openly discussed operational challenges they experienced during COVID and how their repositories responded to the unexpected challenges.”
A poster was presented by NIGMS Repository Project Manager Sam Sander-Effron, through which he provided an overview of research publications that cited the use of NIGMS Repository samples over a 2-year period. “The continuation of this project has been key to building our understanding of the end-use of the samples that our repository offers to the research community”, says Sander-Effron. “As we carry out this study over time, we will gain more insight over trends in biomedical research and use this information to inform the future directions of the NIGMS Repository.”
