title: Methods to Improve Sustainability of a Large Academic Biorepository.
abstract: This article discusses the evolution of the University of Pittsburgh (UPitt) Health Sciences Tissue Bank (HSTB) operation and how it has successfully positioned itself, manages to sustain its value, and remains viable in today's research landscape. We describe the various components of our biobanking operation, which are valued by our researchers, thus leading to sustainability for our biorepository. Operating within the infrastructure of a large academic university, we have access to the most cutting-edge database resources for collecting, tracking, and annotating thousands of specimens. We are constantly improving upon our ability to provide real-time longitudinal follow-up data for our collections, thus providing researchers with valuable, highly annotated research specimens. We believe the combination of all that is described within this article helps to create a biobank that will remain sustainable well into the future.
authors.affiliation: 1 Health Sciences Tissue Bank, University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: 1 Health Sciences Tissue Bank, University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Luke T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Wiehagen
authors.affiliation: 1 Health Sciences Tissue Bank, University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Philip E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Schumacher
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dhir
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000592:standards*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D057225:Data Mining; D006801:Humans; D012042:Registries
keywords: biobank; biobanking best practices; biorepository; honest broker; quality assurance; tissue banking