OBIB-a novel ontology for biobanking.

Background: Biobanking necessitates extensive integration of data to allow data analysis and specimen sharing. Ontologies have been demonstrated to be a promising approach in fostering better semantic integration of biobank-related data. Hitherto no ontology provided the coverage needed to capture a broad spectrum of biobank user scenarios.

Demonstration of a frozen sample aliquotter to prepare plasma and serum aliquots without thawing frozen parent samples.

Human biospecimens represent invaluable resources to advance molecular medicine, epidemiology, and biomarker discovery/validation, among other biomedical research. Biobanks typically cryopreserve biospecimens to safeguard their biochemical composition. However, exposing specimens repeatedly to freeze/thaw cycles can degrade their integrity in unforeseen ways.