Dynamic Biobanking for Advancing Breast Cancer Research
Maryam Abdollahyan, Emanuela Gadaleta, Millahat Asif, Jorge Oscanoa, Rachel Barrow‐McGee, Samantha Jones, J. Louise Jones, Claude Chelala
Abstract
Longitudinal patient biospecimens and data advance breast cancer research through enabling precision medicine approaches for identifying risk, early diagnosis, improved disease management and targeted therapy. Cancer biobanks must evolve to provide not only access to high-quality annotated biospecimens and rich associated data, but also the tools required to harness these data. We present the Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank centre at the Barts Cancer Institute as an exemplar of a dynamic biobanking ecosystem that hosts and links longitudinal biospecimens and multimodal data including electronic health records, genomic and imaging data, offered alongside integrated data sharing and analytics tools. We demonstrate how such an ecosystem can inform precision medicine efforts in breast cancer research.