The Microbe Farms: Microbial Biorepositories in Clinical Microbiology

Biorepositories aim to acquire, authenticate, preserve, develop, and distribute biological specimens, along with information, technology, intellectual property, and standards for the advancement and application of scientific knowledge. Biorepositories are critical components of modern healthcare, as they provide resources to advance translational biomedical research, navigation through the FDA process for in vitro devices, verification and validation of diagnostic methods, and personalized medicine. In order to fully realize the opportunities that biorepositories offer to medicine, laboratories must be able to guarantee high-quality biospecimens, associated information, and a system able to respond to the needs of method verification, quality control, or the requests of scientific colleagues. A biorepository requires funding resources and space, which are often difficult to find within existing health care resources, yet health care may benefit most from the resources biorepositories provide. It is crucial that institutions be able to recognize these issues and start preparing and releasing adequate resources to support the development of biorepositories with a common goal to improve health care by increasing the quality of biomedical research and diagnostic test development. The future of biorepositories depends on the development of more evidence-based practices in both the research and clinical settings. As the field matures, educating a new generation of biospecimen/biobanking scientists will be an important need.