title: Assessing Researcher Needs for a Virtual Biobank.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Biosamples and associated clinical data accelerate translational and clinical research discoveries. A lack of high quality biosamples both stalls projects and limits research advances. In this study, we targeted a wide audience of University of California (UC) biobanking stakeholders who were either involved with the collection or the utilization of biosamples to assess the scope of their biobanking activities and their interest in virtual biobanking or cooperating in the formation of the UC-wide biorepository.
  
  
  METHODS
  Each institutional review board from the five UC medical campuses' provided a dataset of potential researchers involved with biobanking. Once identified, a brief six item web-based questionnaire was administered electronically to these researchers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most survey participants (80%) responded "yes" (n = 348) that they were actively collecting biosamples for research, and 68% of participants indicated they would either definitely (30%, n = 131) or maybe (38%, n = 166) request biosample materials now or within the next year. An equal proportion of participants responded yes (42% or n = 184) and maybe (42% or n = 182) when asked if they would voluntarily contribute specimens to a UC-wide virtual biobank.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results presented above show high levels of support among UC biobanking stakeholders for both requesting material from and contributing material to a UC-wide virtual biobank. In addition, a considerable number of individual researchers on our five UC medical campuses are conducting biospecimen research (i.e., well over n = 435 respondents).
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Jenna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Draanen
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of CTSI, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: 3 Research Resource Program (RRP), University of California San Francisco , San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Helene
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bour-Jordan
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of CTSI, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: LeeAnna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bowman-Carpio
authors.affiliation: 4 University of California San Diego School of Medicine , La Jolla, California.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of CTSI, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dubinett
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Pathology, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of CTSI, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Jachael
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: 6 University of California San Francisco , San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McFall
authors.affiliation: 7 University of California Irvine , Irvine, California.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mercola
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of CTSI, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakazono
authors.affiliation: 8 University of California Davis , Davis, California.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: 6 University of California San Francisco , San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stoppler
authors.affiliation: 6 University of California San Francisco , San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tempero
authors.affiliation: 6 University of California San Francisco , San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vandenberg
authors.affiliation: 8 University of California Davis , Davis, California.
authors.forename: Yu Jui
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Pathology, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dry
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends; D002140:California; D028744:Ethics Committees, Research; D006801:Humans; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: biobank; biosamples; perceptions; stakeholder; virtual