Using human medical waste to build biobanks

Abstract

India has a high disease burden and a large number of patients. There is a tremendous need for Indian biobanks to preserve Indian samples, to capture the great diversity of diseases to spur research into earlier, more precise diagnosis and better treatments for diseases plaguing India. This review article summarizes the key components of building a systematic comprehensive biobank, type and formats of sample and data, and the ethical and regulatory guidelines in India. An example of a growing Indian biobank, Sapien Biosciences, is shared along with its business model to reach sustainability. This is done by developing clinical diagnostics internally using the annotated samples but also sharing samples and outcomes data with external investigators. Our goal is to highlight the immense untapped value of Indian biospecimens and data, to catalyze the formation of collaborative networks of biobanks both within and outside India.