The biobank of China Medical University Hospital (CMUH) is the first one in Taiwan accredited by the Ministry of Health and Welfare that can collect the specimen and biomedical data from patients for research purposes.
Started from October 25, 2012, the biobank of CMUH has collected more than 10,000 specimens from various organs and body fluids like brain, eye, oral cavity, nasopharynx, larynx, esophagus, breast, lung, stomach, pancreas, liver, gut, kidney, ureter, urethra, prostate, testis, cervix, uterus, ovary, bone, cartilage, thyroid, adrenal gland, pituitary, blood, bone marrow, lymph node, pleural effusion, ascites, and so on. All the specimens were collected using a standardized procedure. The tissues and cells were stored in liquid nitrogen. The serum, plasma and body fluid were stored at -80℃ freezer and the extracted DNAs from part of the large tissue were stored at -30℃ freezer. As part of our quality control (QC), we will also randomly select different type of tissues and cells and check the quality of extracted DNA and RNA twice a year to ensure all the aspects from collection to storage are running well. The associated biomedical information (including treatment details and survival status) is kept and maintained in a computer system that is completely isolated without any connection to the Hospital Information System (HIS) or the internet to ensure the security and privacy of the database.
The biobank is easily accessible to all the researchers in CMUH as well as members of National Biobank Consortium of Taiwan. Of course all the research projects using biomaterials from our biobank has to obtain the letter of agreement from scientific and ethic review board. With all these efforts, we believe the qualitative samples and data in our biobank may facilitate the biomedical research and improve human health.