The
Future of Biobanks: Practical and Ethical Issues
Organiser:
Associate Prof
Marta E. Alarcón-Riquelme, Rudbeck Laboratories, Uppsala, Sweden
e-mail:marta.alarcon@genpat.uu.se
www: http://www.genpat.uu.se/syaudi/syaudi.html
For online details
and registration, see the workshop
website
Background:
Information about
genes, transcripts and proteins, accumulating as a consequence of the human
genome project, provides enormous opportunities to study the involvement of
these factors in basic biologcal processes and in disease. The availability
of human material in the form of extensive samples DNA, RNA and tissues will
be of critical importance in this work, and this in turn requires that such
materials are collected, stored, and 
evaluated
in an optimal manner both from technical and scientific points of view, as well
as by taking into account ethical, economical, and legal considerations. The
range of different European populations provides particular value in different
research projects depending on factors such as the age and homogeneity of to
the population, the quality of the health care, and the availability of data
on geneology, and medical and epidemiological factors. The scientific and commercial
importance attributed to such sample resources is clearly evidenced by companies
such as DeCode Genetics, collecting and evaluating samples from a large segment
of the Icelandic population. There is, however, currently little knowledge as
to optimal means of collecting and storing human biobanks, or how to organize
and manage them, or their scientific uses. It is particularly important to define
ethically acceptable mechanisms to ensure the integrity of the sample donors,
and to avoid unacceptable commercial exploitation. This is clearly a question
where unique opportunities are present in Europe, and where some degree of consensus
will be required at a European level on how to manage and organize such collections.
Contacts and some degree of standardisation will be required to allow scientific
collaborations on a European level. There is also a need for scientists to define
the potential and optimal use of biobanks, as a background to national legislation
in order to avoid that damaging limitations are imposed e.g. on the right to
use samples for future investigations, the nature of which may not be possible
to predict at the time of sample collection.
The purpose of
the proposed workshop is to bring together scientists and other individuals
with experience from various aspects of the topic from all around Europe. We
are convinced that such a workshop can help advance projects in functional genomics
and bring about new contacts in areas of great practical importance.
Venue:
The
Rudbeck Laboratory, Uppsala, Sweden
Dates:
12th
-13th September, 2002
Atendance:
40 people, including the speakers
Programme:
All details can be found on the workshop
website.
Registration:
Registration for
this event is now closed.