title: The utility of collaborative biobanks for cardiovascular research.
abstract: Differences between animal and human atherosclerosis have led to the requirement for clinical data, imaging information and biological material from large numbers of patients and healthy persons. Where such "biobanks" exist, they have been fruitful sources for genomewide association, diagnostic accuracy, ethnicity, and risk stratification cohort studies. In addition once established, they attract funding for future projects. Biobanks require a network of medical contributors, secure storage facilities, bioinformatics expertise, database managers, and ethical working practices to function optimally. There is the opportunity for collaboration between individual biobanks to further amplify the advantages afforded.
authors: Academic Section of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College, London, UK. j.shalhoub@imperial.ac.uk
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Shalhoub
authors: Kerry J
authors: KJ
authors: Davies
authors: Nazeeha
authors: N
authors: Hasan
authors: Ankur
authors: A
authors: Thapar
authors: Pankaj
authors: P
authors: Sharma
authors: Alun H
authors: AH
authors: Davies
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D049490:Systems Biology; D014015:Tissue Banks / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*