The first Workshop of the Association “Bases of Biobanking” (October 24-26, 2019; Moscow, Russia)

Russian National Medical Research Center for Preventive Medicine (Moscow) and Russian National Association of Biobanks and Biobanking specialists (NASBio) held recently the first Workshop of the Association, entitled ‘Bases of Biobanking’ (October 24-26, 2019; Moscow, Russia). Lecture sessions of the workshop included Introduction (with greetings from Oksana Drapkina, the President of NASBio), sessions entitled ‘What biobanking is?’, ‘How to build a biobank from the scratch in a proper way’, ‘Organization of work in a biobank’, ‘Collaboration of biobanks’ and ‘Types of biobanks’. Section ‘Organization of work in a biobank’ was broken into 3 subsections and covered such diverse aspects as setting up technological processes, interacting with study participants, recording preanalytical parameters and sample properties, IT-infrastructure of biobanks, working with information associated with biospecimens, etc. Importantly, practical sessions were organized in addition to lectures. These were dedicated to the procedures associated signing Informed Consent forms, collection, shipping, processing and storing blood samples and blood derivatives, cryopreservation of cells, etc. Practical sessions were followed by the testing, and certificates of attendance were given to the successful participants of Workshop. Lectures were given and practical sessions were led by many active members of NASBio, representing a host organization (National Medical Research Center for Preventive Medicine), Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Saint Petersburg State University, D.O.Ott Research Institute of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductology, N.F. Gamaleya National Research Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, V.I.Kulakov Research Center of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Perinatology, Qvadros-Bio LLC and National BioService LLC. The success of this workshop illustrates a growing role of Russian National Association of Biobanks and Biobanking specialists (NASBio) in the developing of biobanking field in Russia.