Bio-objectifying European bodies: standardisation of biobanks in the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure.

Sakari Tamminen

doi:10.1186/s40504-015-0031-1

Abstract

The article traces the genealogy of the Minimum Information About Biobank Data Sharing model, created in the European Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure to facilitate collaboration among biobanks and to foster the exchange of biological samples and data. This information model is aimed at the identification of biobanks; unification of databases; and objectification of the information, samples, and related studies – to create a completely new ‘bio-object infrastructure’ within the EU. The paper discusses key challenges in creating a ‘universal’ information model of such a kind, the most important technical translations of European research policy needed for a standardised model for biobank information, and how this model creates new bio-objects. The author claims that this amounts to redefinition of biobanks and technical governance over virtually bio-objectified European populations. It is argued here that old governance models based on the nation-state need radical reconsideration so that we are prepared for a new and changing situation wherein bodies of information that lack organs flow from one database to another with a click of a mouse.

Highlights

The emergence of new biotechnologies, ranging from techniques and tools directly allowing manipulation of the essential fabric of biological life to expertise in these and their empirical outcomes, has destabilised the way in which the ‘biological’ is understood
In this article, I have attempted to trace the development of the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) standard information model MIABIS in order to analyse where the values of the political and the technological collide and where European biomedical-policy entanglements (Thévenot 2009) occur
Database integration and information models are not neutral but imbued with politics and conflicts linked to multiple value systems

Summary

Introduction

The emergence of new biotechnologies, ranging from techniques and tools directly allowing manipulation of the essential fabric of biological life to expertise in these and their empirical outcomes, has destabilised the way in which the ‘biological’ is understood. It is a working implementation of the proposed biobanks standard, the first attempt to provide an informational backbone for the large-scale biomedical infrastructure platform envisioned by European research policy.

Results

Conclusion