Virtual biobanking to enhance collaboration and specimen use in infectious diseases

Priyanka Nair-Turkich¹, Maureen Turner², Javier Haurat³, Wisam Abdelaziz ³, Allison Bourne ³, Miranda Z. Smith⁴

¹ Melbourne Data Analytics Platform, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia, ² School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia, ³BioGrid Australia, North Melbourne, Victoria 3051, Australia, ⁴ The Department of Infectious Diseases at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital

Abstract:

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has underpinned the value of rapid access to high-quality biospecimens. Vaccine, diagnostic test, and antiviral development all rely on swift access to biospecimens, as do detailed investigations characterising the immune responses and consequences of infection. In infectious disease research, however, biospecimen collections are often limited in scope and number, with project-specific governance and restricted sharing mechanisms for collaborative research. This leads to often underpowered or limited study findings and the under-utilisation of precious resources held in distributed locations under separate and often non-transparent access and governance arrangements.

Through the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on InfectiouS disease Emergencies (APPRISE), we eveloped an ethically approved Virtual Biobank linking existing biospecimen collections. The Virtual Biobank enables the discovery, integration and interpretation of data relating to these diverse collections within their existing ethics and governance arrangements.

The APPRISE Virtual Biobank demonstrates the feasibility of working with existing biospecimen collections to improve their accessibility and usage. The platform provides a single location from which to search multiple biospecimen collections, linking searchers with collection custodians. The first phase of the Virtual Biobank provides a valuable platform for expansion and further progress towards access and governance harmonisation. Ultimately, these efforts will improve access to infectious disease biospecimens in Australia.