A Pilot Cancer-Phenome Biobanking System in a Low-Resource Southeast Asian Setting: The Philippine General Hospital Biobank Experience.

In this study, we present a specific use case of biobanking activity at the PGH Biobank, to build a cohort of biospecimens from Filipino patients with breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. This initiative is part of a biomonitoring study (1) to assess environmental exposures and possible risk factors in the Philippine population and (2) to develop a system of culturing human cells from Filipino patients for subsequent in vitro studies. We discuss issues faced and the solutions developed during the implementation of the biobank. Strong research collaboration, a funding source, basic infrastructure, and appropriate technology helped initiate this pilot biobank in the Philippines. Overall, the experiences of establishing the PGH Biobank may help other institutions in low-resource countries to set up cancer biobanks. PMID: 32202927 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Biopreservation and Biobanking - Category: Biomedical Science Tags: Biopreserv Biobank Source Type: research