The growing importance of biobanks for research is undeniable. Biobank registries play an important role in the development of cancer research, generating a high-quality resource with clinical annotation of relevant biological samples. In addition, there is a growing demand for biobanks to provide high-quality samples and go beyond knowing exactly where samples are located. To overcome the lack of samples of proven quality for the study of onco-hematological diseases, the Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Unit (UOHP) of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) founded in 2016, the Genevoise Pediatric Bank for Research in Onco-Hematology (BAhop). The BaHop was created to promote research in order to improve prevention, diagnosis and therapy in the field of oncology, hematology and immunology of pediatric diseases.
Method:
The BaHop is composed of: 1) the international division, dedicated to the collection and storage of samples and associated clinical data from patients enrolled in sub-studies related to pharmacogenomics; 2) the local division, which collects clinical data and biological materials from patients treated in the onco-hematology unit at HUG; 3) the national division with BISKIDS (Germline DNA Biobank Switzerland for Childhood and Blood Cancer Switzerland) Disorders), created in 2018, to allow the collection of germline DNA from all Swiss children who have survived cancer and link these biological samples to their respective clinical data managed by the Childhood Cancer Research Group (GRC) of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) at the University of Bern.
Results:
As part of the BaHop, to date we have collected over 8783 aliquots of individual samples from over 2767 patients (including participants in PGX complementary studies from ALL SCTPed FORUM and MyEChild01). Clinical data is centralized in our biobank information management system (BIMS) for patients treated at the HUG UOHP and for patients enrolled in international clinical trial sub-studies. For patients included in the BISKIDS project, clinical data collection is centralized at the ISPM of the University of Bern. In addition, we built the first national IT platform to connect these resources. By linking the data maintained by the ISPM to the information relating to the biobanks of BISKIDS participants, we reduce redundancies and improve data quality in a sustainable way. Each resource will be managed independently on its own server. A minimum set of essential data will be exchanged through a central interface at the ISPM of the University of Bern. This Trust Center is managed by an independent organization, not involved in research, the Swiss Research Data Linkage (swissRDL) at the ISPM. The pairing will be done under a unique BioLink ID based on codes generated by the partners.
An important step in 2020-2021 was achieved with the obtaining of the VITA accreditation label from the Swiss Biobanks Platform (SBP), which certifies compliance with the legal framework applicable to research involving human beings.
In 2023, BaHop received the NORMA label issued by the SBP, which guarantees the quality of operational processes (collection, transport, reception, treatment, storage, distribution) and the harmonization of practices at the Swiss level. Of the 13 biobanks in Geneva, the BaHop can claim to be the 2nd biobank to obtain this designation out of the 4 accredited. While at the national level, only 34 biobanks out of 92 are certified. Obtaining SBP accreditation allowed BaHop to be listed and present on the SBP BioBanksQAN directory. In addition, thanks to the collaboration of the SBP with the European biobank consortium “Biobanking and BioMolecular resources Research Infrastructure — European Research Infrastructure Consortium for Biobanking” (BBMRI-ERIC), the BaHop is currently present on the international BBMRI directory. Last year, members of the biobank also actively participated in various conferences, through a poster or an oral presentation. Currently, BaHop supports four research projects (including the GECCOS study), three of them with local resources and one international project with resources collected by the BISKIDS collection.
What does this biobank bring to patients?
The BaHop makes it possible to keep high quality biological samples in a highly regulated and secure structure. These samples can be used for onco-hematology research purposes at a national or international level in order to improve knowledge in this field.
