Pharma IQ announces 5th Biobanking Conference to be held in San Francisco

Pharma IQ, a division of IQPC, announces its 5^th Biobanking Conference, to be held August 22 to 24, 2011 in San Francisco, CA. Bringing together experts from across the biomedical research field, the conference addresses the latest advancements in the biobanking sphere, and includes sessions with industry experts on a variety of ethical, privacy, regulatory, legal and profitability issues.

Due to an ever evolving regulatory environment, the biobanking community has not yet reached a consensus on best practices. Privacy practices and ethical issues, including informed consent, are in the spotlight. In a recent interview with Pharma IQ, Kieran O'Doherty, Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph, noted, "When the biobank is first constructed and when research participants are enrolled… often, the researchers don't know what kind of studies are going to be conducted with the samples. So the idea of informed consent just can't be used in the same way." New ways of protecting research participants are needed for the context of biobanking. In the interview, Assistant Professor O'Doherty explores where informed consent fails in the context of biobanking, and new ways of protecting research participants.

For the purposes of addressing these ethical and privacy issues and other issues of great importance for those in the biomedical research field, the 5^th IQPC Biobanking Conference will bring together leading industry experts to inform on:

• How informed consent and privacy practices, policy and governance practice affect biobanking related research and development
• Understanding evolving regulations and standards as they develop into actual laws
• Best practices and recommendations in the evaluation and prioritization for research tissue banking
• Conducting research to support evidence-based best practices
• Strategic planning and gaining competitive funding for biobank expansion
• Accelerating genomic studies and maximizing biobanking resources