| BIOSCIENCE TODAY |
| biosample provenance |
Biosample provenance: what researchers need to know Why is the current system for sourcing samples broken? And what does this mean for researchers who use biosamples? Robert Hewitt, MB BS, PhD, of Biosample Hub, investigates. The journey for every biospecimen used for medical research is different. It all begins when the sample is donated by an individual and it ends when the sample reaches the research laboratory where it is analysed. Between these two points, there is a wide variety of possible routes, events and timelines, any of which may have the potential to affect the quality of the sample. Because of this it is vitally important that researchers know the provenance details of everyone of the biospecimens they use in their work. Unfortunately, for researchers working in industry, this information is often lacking, and this will affect the reliability of the resulting research they conduct. Why is this? The reason is that researchers in industry very often obtain biospecimens through the services of a commercial broker. These brokers act as an intermediary between the client in industry and the hospital biobank where the sample was originally collected and preserved. Brokers source the samples that their client require and charge a fee for doing this. They prefer not to allow free and unconditional communication between the researcher and
the hospital biobank, because this would risk their own circumvention and potential loss of profits. So, in general, brokers keep the source of their samples to themselves. The result of this is that the researchers may then lack biospecimen provenance information they need. For the industry scientists who are the end-users of the samples, the provenance information that is important to know includes: (a) sample processing history, (b) information about the donor and their medical history, (c) the geographic origin of the sample which provides information about environment and ethnicity, and (d) previous custodians, which may include one or several commercial brokers. Even in simple cases there is great potential for variation in sample processing. To take one example: diseased tissue removed during an operation by a surgeon. This type of sample needs to be preserved rapidly to minimise damage caused by anoxia which begins once tissue is separated from its blood supply. The speed with which preservation
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