Fuelling Local Cancer Research by Establishing Biobanking Best Practices for Quality Samples at The University of Texas at El Paso

Authors: Mrinal Kanti Chatterjee, Assistant Manager (Marketing) at CloudLIMS.com, Shonali Paul, COO at CloudLIMS.com, Elisa Robles Escajeda, Assistant Professor at Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC)

Venue: ISBER 2023 Annual Meeting & Exhibits

Abstract: While cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the US, it is the leading cause of death among the Hispanic population. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is committed to investigating the health and biomedical challenges affecting the Mexican population in the El Paso/ Juarez Borderplex region. This region has a peculiar demographic with wide variances in the economic, social, and institutional living conditions of the population. The region has some of the poorest rural “colonies” and at the same time urban-poor dwellings as well as some very affluent urban neighborhoods. As research has shown, such variations cause “health disparities” that contribute to the incidence, prevalence, development, severity and even burden of cancer. In other words, Hispanic cancer-related health disparities have been linked to the higher incidence of cancer in this population as well as higher morbidity and mortality rates. The Border Biomedical Research Center (BBMRC) was established to address health disparities in the Hispanic communities in the Borderplex region. The main challenge of UTEP- BBMRC was to establish biobanking best practices to ensure that the quality of samples collected meets internationally acceptable standards. The University adopted ISBER Best Practices and NCI Best Practices for the collection, use, and storage of quality biospecimens in the biobank, geared towards cancer research. They decided to use a cloud-based Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), CloudLIMS, for their informatics needs….