Cost Effective Biobanking
This past summer I worked at UT southwestern. I would like to say that I had an amazing experience that propelled me to become a doctor, saving lives and instilling confidence within sick patients, but I did not. I worked with a biobank and that was not the best experience. I probably saw the doctor I worked under a total of two times, and once I only heard her say "Hi hi hi". This is understandable because she had three research projects and plenty of grants to apply to in order to fund said projects. Now, her job seems fun, telling people to implement projects that interested her, but I was at the bottom of the totem pole carrying out all of the unpleasant but necessary tasks.
Although, while at the bottom I was able to observe how a biobank works in massive studies. The study that I was working with was attempting to collect a total of 30,000 samples. At that time we only had 10,200 samples, so we had a ways to go. I was part of the team that consented and then collected blood from the patients that came into the biobank to participate in the study. This was a long and arduous task but one that was essential for the data of a study. The routine of taking blood samples for the biobank to storage made me think that having to freeze genetic samples at -80 degrees Fahrenheit only to take them out ten years later and not be able to recollect the participant's blood was a huge waste of money and time! There were ways to track participants, but that was usually only by calling a patient and asking them to return for another blood sample and the "patient" they called might not even be the original patient who gave blood. This is why I found this article fascinating, for it proposes an alternative and safe way to keep an alternative DNA sample to cross check with a patients new DNA, ensuring the original patient is present later on.
This paper details a method of storing a sample of blood on a non-colored and absorbant fabric that is cost effective. The proposal is to take two small blood samples, along with the stored DNA, and put them on two pieces of fabric for DNA storage purpose. There is also a bar code that helps to track the two sample DNA pieces with the original and stored DNA. This method is very cost effective and easy, but it is not the only system. The advantage of this system, though, is the simplicity of the design, just two pieces of paper and a bar code. I do not know if this system is very effective for the recovery of DNA, as it was only tested on 26 blood spots. Further tests are necessary in order to make this a legitimate method of keeping a record to check with a patient's new DNA sample, but the amount of reliability and cost efficiency is undeniable in the long run.
http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v18/n7/full/ejhg201016a.html
A sample picture of the two blood spots and bar code.
Although, while at the bottom I was able to observe how a biobank works in massive studies. The study that I was working with was attempting to collect a total of 30,000 samples. At that time we only had 10,200 samples, so we had a ways to go. I was part of the team that consented and then collected blood from the patients that came into the biobank to participate in the study. This was a long and arduous task but one that was essential for the data of a study. The routine of taking blood samples for the biobank to storage made me think that having to freeze genetic samples at -80 degrees Fahrenheit only to take them out ten years later and not be able to recollect the participant's blood was a huge waste of money and time! There were ways to track participants, but that was usually only by calling a patient and asking them to return for another blood sample and the "patient" they called might not even be the original patient who gave blood. This is why I found this article fascinating, for it proposes an alternative and safe way to keep an alternative DNA sample to cross check with a patients new DNA, ensuring the original patient is present later on.
This paper details a method of storing a sample of blood on a non-colored and absorbant fabric that is cost effective. The proposal is to take two small blood samples, along with the stored DNA, and put them on two pieces of fabric for DNA storage purpose. There is also a bar code that helps to track the two sample DNA pieces with the original and stored DNA. This method is very cost effective and easy, but it is not the only system. The advantage of this system, though, is the simplicity of the design, just two pieces of paper and a bar code. I do not know if this system is very effective for the recovery of DNA, as it was only tested on 26 blood spots. Further tests are necessary in order to make this a legitimate method of keeping a record to check with a patient's new DNA sample, but the amount of reliability and cost efficiency is undeniable in the long run.
http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v18/n7/full/ejhg201016a.html
A sample picture of the two blood spots and bar code.
posted by vincent.zaballa at 3:25 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home