Innovation happens here - with facilities and experts.
The University at Buffalo (UB) biorepository program is designed to advance discovery and innovation in healthcare by providing a unique, centralized resource of high-quality, deeply annotated biospecimens to support present and future research studies, diagnostic development, and the creation of new therapeutics.
Biorepository services are available to:
- State University of New York institutions
- private colleges and universities
- research centers
- industry partners
The biorepository program has implemented cutting edge technology and has created a quality program to ensure that all biobank services and facilities ensure:
- Minimal variation in sample quality due to harmonized sample collection
and processing - Increased accuracy of biosample identity through functional QC of each sample
- Reliable and seamless integration between sample data and quality control metrics
- Regulatory compliant facilities and processes designed to meet the needs of
any biosample application
The biorepository program supports four main operations to ensure complete digital and physical chain of custody: collection, processing, storage and distribution.
- Collection – Biospecimen sample collection kits are manufactured to ensure
reproducible and reliable collection. Through advanced barcode processing and
scanning each sample is tracked at the time of collection and data transferred into
the biorepository’s laboratory information management system (e.g. origin of the
sample, time the sample arrived, etc.)
- Processing – Automated pre-processing (i.e. blood fractionation,
pathology services) and processing (i.e. nucleic acid extraction, PBMC processing)
help minimize variation of primary biosamples and their analytes for banking.
- Storage – Regulated sample storage environments are available and applied to all
biosamples based on the sample type specific temperature and environmental
requirements. All storage environments are highly regulated, monitored 24/7/365,
supported by complete and continuous back up power, and are supported by
redundant freezers for uninterrupted storage. This critical piece of the service
workflow ensures sample quality until the time any sample is requested for use.
- Distribution – The success of any biorepository is the use of the samples it houses.
In addition, the ability to retrieve samples in a safe and timely manner is a critical
component to the biobank service set. Due to high quality sample storage
information in the biobank LIMS and the utilization of automation friendly storage
vessels the UB Biobank can support high volume sample requests on a
moment’s notice.