Annual Report 2024
Department of Biobank and Tissue Resources
Yasushi Yatabe, Kouya Shiraishi, Makoto Hirata, Taiki Hashimoto, Hiromi Sakamoto, Masumi Tanaka, Emi Iimura, Noriko Abe, Kazushige Hori, Masahiro Kodaka, Reiko Suzuki, Yasuko Harada, Wienczyslawa Satoh, Erika Arakawa
Introduction
Since 2002, the NCC Biobank has been working to build and operate a biobank with a catalog database containing high-quality, standardized clinical and pathological information.
The Team and What We Do
The collection status of the blood and tissue samples in the past three years is summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. Status of sample collection for the past three years
In FY2020, sample collection was temporarily halted from March 31 to April 14, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By September, the number of new samples collected had returned to levels comparable to those in January 2020. Figure 1 displays the monthly sample collection data.
Research Activities
The total number of articles published in FY2024 on research using biobank samples was high, with 104 papers and a total impact factor of 754.2 (average 7.46, highest 38.5), suggesting that the biobank has contributed sufficiently to the promotion of translational researches so far (Table 2).
Table 2. Contribution to publishing articles using NCC Biobank samples
Education
We welcome visits and interviews from biobank professionals and practitioners representing other institutions. Furthermore, we have played an active role in managing the National Center Biobank Network (NCBN) and have collaborated with Tohoku Megabank and BBJ to develop a cross-sectional search system.
Future Prospects
The number of samples in the NCC biobank has increased, leading to a rise in published studies. As a result, our focus may transition to the sustainable maintenance of the biobank. Additionally, we are evaluating changes in sample preparation and types to enhance their clinical relevance.