Biobank: a scientific investment in the future
What is biobanking, and what are biobanks?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: In its original meaning, a biobank was defined as a repository of biological samples, usually of human origin. These could be body fluids, urine, stool, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or tissue fragments. The material usually came from patients, but sometimes also from healthy individuals. Today, this definition has expanded. We now have digital biobanks, whose purpose is to collect data, such as clinical or survey data from patients. Biobanks that used to collect DNA and RNA are now beginning to store data derived from analysis. There are metabolomic biobanks, where biological samples are stored for metabolite research. Some biobanks assess the metagenome, meaning the genome of bacteria associated with the human body. The new definition also includes biobanks of animal material, both from laboratory and wild animals. Finally, there are environmental biobanks, where water and soil samples are collected. When we combine all these types of biobanks, we arrive at the new concept of biobanking called One Health. It treats the entire Earth ecosystem as a whole. Thanks to this approach, biobanking can provide us with every possible kind of information.
What do we store in the biobank at WUM?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: It is worth clarifying that a biobank in the modern sense must meet specific criteria: ethical, organizational, legal, and preferably also ISO standards. Alongside modern biobanks, we also have biorepositories, which do not meet all these requirements, for example because they lack ISO certification. At WUM, we have several different types of biorepositories. However, in terms of biobanking that meets modern standards, we have the biobank of the Research Laboratory – Cell Bank, with which we cooperate.
Does biobanking have a long tradition? When and where was the first biobank established?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: The answer depends on which definition of a biobank we adopt. Human tissues have been collected for centuries by universities and hospitals as part of their operations. However, it is generally accepted that the forerunner of biobanking was the Army Medical Museum (today called the National Museum of Health and Medicine) in the United States, dating back to 1862. But that was not a biobank in the modern sense. Biobanking, as we understand it today, developed in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The first regions to introduce the necessary regulations for creating biobanks were the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. The real breakthrough came with the creation of a European biobank network in the early 21st century.
How long can biological samples be stored?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: Properly stored DNA, kept at -80°C in appropriate buffers, is practically indestructible over time, provided no disasters occur. Today, scientists are analyzing DNA from organisms that lived millions of years ago, which is possible because DNA is stable. In contrast, RNA is very unstable, yet it can still be stored safely at -80°C with the use of enzyme inhibitors. Biological storage is also possible. Such samples can be kept in liquid nitrogen or embedded in paraffin blocks, stored just like pathology materials. To sum up, current methods allow safe storage for at least several decades. This long-term perspective is important. I recently heard about tissues collected in the interwar period that had been preserved in paraffin blocks. Today it is possible to assess proteins and cancer markers in those samples.
Why do we actually store tissues or genetic material?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: The basic idea of biobanking is hypothesis-free storage of material, so that in the future someone may come up with a way to use it. Most often, however, tissues are collected to carry out a specific research project. A tissue repository is then created for that project, and once the project ends, the tissues continue to be stored. This is crucial in biobanking because we must be able to return to samples for further analysis. It means we analyze them now, and then retrospectively re-evaluate them later.
There is also a third approach – prospective biobanking. Here, the key element is maintaining contact with donors. We collect tissues today, and then from the same donors again ten years later, and again ten years after that. We also collect health data from those donors. Prospective biobanking is the most advanced model, but it is not always feasible because of personal data protection. In most countries, biobanking requires anonymization, or more precisely, pseudonymization, and no feedback is provided to donors. Personal data is replaced with a code assigned to all samples from a given person, but no information is returned to that person.
An exception is the Estonian model, under which almost every donor has the right to receive feedback about results obtained from their biobanked material. This model works very well. Estonia is a European leader in biobanking, with about 20 percent of its population biobanked.
But that is a small population…
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: True, but the system they have developed is excellent in many respects. It is fully digitalized, with online consent forms that can also be withdrawn online. It is very convenient. Estonia is a leader in organizing biobanking processes. In Poland, we are not yet at that level, and much remains to be done to catch up with Europe.
What do you think are the greatest benefits of biobanking?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: It is a scientific investment in the future. Suppose researchers launch a project and need certain tissues. Collecting them from donors takes a lot of time. Therefore, scientists first look for the required material in biobanks, where the samples are often already waiting. This saves not only time but also money and resources. Imagine a virus called “SARS-CoV-3” appears. If we have stored material from the SARS-CoV-1 epidemic and the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we already have samples to prepare for the next outbreak. Studying them could help accelerate vaccine development. That is one important benefit. Another is population studies. A population biobank allows us to learn more about demographics and disease predispositions. Based on biobank data, we can even predict how specific drugs may work for certain individuals – whether they will be effective or cause adverse effects. This is highly valuable, since we do not have to conduct experiments on people but rather on their tissues.
In summary, a biobank can be compared to a piggy bank that we can draw from whenever needed.
Can biobanks help treat rare diseases more effectively?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: Yes, they can. In the case of rare diseases, collecting tissues and information is particularly difficult and time-consuming, which makes biobanks extremely important. Especially when operating within a European network, biobanks provide data that help with diagnosis and treatment.
Biobanking means dealing with enormous amounts of information. Does AI already help in collecting and analyzing it?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: Without modern IT solutions, there would be no biobanking. We are talking about hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of samples that must be properly stored. AI is used to help here in many ways. Some biobanks are fully robotized. Humans deliver the sample, but all subsequent steps are handled by robots. Such a biobank operates in Gdańsk and several other Polish cities. AI supports these biobanks by developing better methods for the classification, storage, and retrieval of samples.
AI also helps analyze data. In digital biobanks, with huge amounts of information, simple IT methods are insufficient. AI is needed to detect patterns and matrices. It also helps test hypotheses, for example by checking whether a hypothesis has already been studied and what the results were.
It is worth emphasizing that AI is particularly useful in digital microscopy. Some biobanks collect scans of histological samples. These high-resolution images are virtually equivalent to what a pathologist sees under a microscope. They can be transmitted quickly, and AI can analyze the images and generate preliminary findings.
WUM is the leader of a consortium that aims to integrate Polish biobanks. What are we responsible for?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: The consortium was established in 2014 and received government funding in 2017, with MUW as one of the founding institutions. Initially, the Wrocław center was in charge. That was the origin of the Polish network of biobanks and biorepositories, which was funded until 2021. At the beginning of this year, WUM was appointed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education as the National Leading Center for Biobanking (KOW), and I was designated national coordinator for biobanking. KOW is responsible for coordinating and integrating national biobanks of biological material and aligning national activities with European efforts under the Biobanking and BioMolecular Resources Research Infrastructure – European Research Infrastructure Consortium (BBMRI-ERIC). In April of this year, WUM hosted the reactivation meeting of the BBMRI.pl consortium, bringing together eight Polish research institutions engaged in biobanking.
What does aligning activities mean in practice?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: There are at least four aspects that need to be aligned within the Polish and European network. First is the organization of collection and exchange of tissues between centers – in other words, collaboration. Second is proper digitalization. Third is quality management, meaning all actions necessary to maintain high quality and standards across all biobanks. Finally, there are legal and ethical issues. Each aspect is managed by a different center. Our role as leader is to coordinate efforts in all four areas and to mediate contacts between Polish and European centers. Strengthening this cooperation is supported by meetings such as the Europe Biobank Week Congress 2025, which was held in May in Bologna. The congress brought together experts, scientists, and practitioners from around the world. It was an excellent opportunity to exchange experiences and listen to presentations on topics such as human and non-human material biobanking, the use of big data and AI, creation and protection of European data spaces, ethics, law, and social implications of biobank innovation, patient-oriented biobanking, and the automation of biobanks – challenges, opportunities, and solutions.
What are the main challenges facing biobanking today?
Dr hab. Radosław Zagożdżon: Funding is a challenge, as it is not easy to obtain. This is because biobanks must largely be funded from public money, if only to avoid accusations that their resources are used solely for commercial purposes. This does not exclude commercial collaboration – on the contrary, it is encouraged – but at this stage it cannot be the main source of funding.
There are also ethical issues: should the information obtained from, for example, genetic analysis be returned to the patient? Suppose someone learns they carry a gene associated with cancer, which does not necessarily mean the disease will develop. Is such information beneficial, encouraging more screening and healthier lifestyles? Or could it instead cause stress that worsens health and increases disease risk?
Another major challenge is engaging society. In Estonia, everyone knows what biobanking is. In Poland, the average person has never heard of it. Some even approach biobanks thinking they can deposit cash. They associate biobanks with an eco-style financial institution. That is why spreading knowledge about biobanks is so important. We hope that in this respect we will soon match European standards.
Interview by Iwona Kołakowska
Photo by Tomasz Świętoniowski
Communication and Promotion Office