Could you be a biobanker?
To give you an idea of the traceability, accuracy, and time pressures required in fresh tissue biobanking, we've simulated a typical situation for you to pit your skills against.
In reality, a newly-trained biobanker needs around 25-30 minutes (including the time for system logins, queries, and handwriting) to perform the actual receipting, checking, documentation, and release with the required accuracy. An experienced biobanker usually needs around 15-20 minutes.
Since we've limited the options available to you, and you don't need to login to any systems, or make system queries, or write anything down, we've given you a total of 18 minutes to complete the 4 tasks. You have as much time as you want in between tasks (a luxury we don't have!), but the tasks themselves are time-limited. To help you refer back to the right information, each task will open in a separate tab.
Good luck! Pay close attention to the details! And don't worry – this is just for fun. You can try as many times as you like, and we don't record who you really are!
Step 1: Receipt the samples
Welcome to the HBRC – here goes: Imagine that you're a biobank technician called Shane Ahmed, and today you're working with your biobank technical colleague, Billie Bobb.
At 15:42 on 01 March 2023, Dr Jayne Doe drops off a bag of samples by hand, confirming her belief that they're all for Application 99-999. Dr Doe also confirms that she brought the samples directly from the operating theatres at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. Dr Doe is working very hard to ensure every patient is seen today, so you make sure you thank her for all her help today!
These are the samples you find in the bag. There are 2x blood tubes and 1x specimen pot of fresh tissue. You find no significant discrepancies between bag and sample details.
You need to record receipt of samples. This form is critical for traceability because it documents how the samples came into the HBRC.
TASK: Based on what you know so far, ensure the Sample Transfer Record is correctly filled out.
Step 2: Quarantine samples, perform checks, ensure full traceability
One minute after receipt, you put the samples onto Shelf 1 of fridge UN101, which is next door to fridge UN102.
Before you do anything further, you check the secure consents database for evidence that consent already exists for this patient’s samples.
This is the result from your consents database query.
Now you replace all samples’ identifiable labels with S-number labels generated by our secure inventory system (“Sapphire”).
You also need to release or store each sample based on what you've checked so far, and you need to update the Sample Collection Form accordingly. This form is critical for traceability because it:
- Fully confirms the details of the samples received
- Records which unique sample number applies to which physical sample
- Links each sample number to the donor’s actual identity, consent date, and P-number
- Indicates the fate of samples that are not released immediately
Oh my gosh, the time is now 15:48, and it’s important that Application 99-999 gets its material as quickly as possible!
TASK: Based on what you know so far, ensure the Sample Collection Form is correctly filled out.
Step 3: Release or store samples as necessary
You transcribe the pseudonymised data from the Sample Collection Form to Sapphire. You also create package PKG-2301-00009 on Sapphire. You instruct Sapphire to link the releasable samples to that package number.
Your ask your biobank colleague to confirm that your package is correct. As expected, it is.
At 16:55, a postdoctoral researcher called Dr Anne Other turns up at the HBRC door, eager to receive the samples for Application 99-999. Dr Other is very pleased to receive the material, because she's already getting some very promising results, and she's looking forward to having two scientific papers published at the end of the project. You need to record release of the samples. This form is critical for traceability because it documents exactly what was released, to whom, when, and for which Application.
TASK: Based on what you know so far, ensure the Record of Sample Release is correctly filled out.
On Sapphire, you now confirm the fate of all samples received.
From Sapphire, you need to print out a “shipping manifest” of the samples released. This form is useful, because it gives scientists a little extra detail about the samples released to them (scientists aren't allowed access to Sapphire for security reasons).
TASK: Based on what you know so far, ensure the “shipping manifest” produce by Sapphire has the correct information on it.
Finally, you email a photocopy of the release record, and the inventory-generated “shipping manifest”, to Dr Other, with a request that she signs and scans back the release form.
It's another successful partnership of the patient, the NHS, HBRC, and research!
How did you do?
If you achieved full marks within the time limits, without needing extra time to keep re-reading paragraphs between the tasks (even if you're a bit tired today), you're a natural biobanker!
In reality, some of the forms we use do vary – depending on whether we're handling fresh samples, fixed samples for histology, or samples for storing in our freezers/liquid nitrogen – but together we track at least 20,000 unique samples in or out of HBRC every year.
And at every moment, we remember that every sample came from a real person. Thank you!