Proposed Workshop on new ISO standard for Biobanking

ISO, the international standard development organization will be issuing new draft standard addressing biobanking requirements.  This standard, ISO 20387 – Biotechnology – Biobanking – General requirements, will be issued for public comment in July, 2017 for a 3 month commenting period.

During this public commenting period NSAI are planning to host workshops for national stakeholders to demonstrate how to access and review the draft and also how to submit comments for proposed changes to the new standard.

Register to attend

These workshops have taken place.

The current scope of this standard is as follows:

• This document specifies general requirements including quality control requirements for the competence, impartiality and consistent operation of biobanks to ensure biological material and data collections of appropriate quality.
• This document is applicable to all organizations performing biobanking activities, including biobanking of human, animal, plant and microorganism resources for research and development.
• Biobank users, regulatory authorities, organizations and schemes using peer-assessment, accreditation bodies, and others can also use this document in confirming or recognizing the competence of biobanks. This document does not apply to biological material intended for food production or therapeutic use.

Who should attend:

• Scientists and researchers who obtain and store samples for research purposes.
• Those involved in the maintenance and running of biobanks.
• Quality personnel working in the biotechnology field who maintain the quality of bioresources incl. biobanked samples and associated data.
• Industry and academic end users of the bio-bank bioresources.
• Regulators and certification organizations who are interested in ensuring the quality of bioresources.
• Research funding organizations who support the operation of research groups generating and using bioresources.