Biobanking in the 21st Century

Yong Zhang, Qiyuan Li, Xian Wang, Xiaolin Zhou, Zhang, Yong, Li, Qiyuan, Wang, Xian, Zhou, Xiaolin

Biobanks are playing increasingly important roles in clinical and translational research nowadays. China, as a country with the largest population and abundant clinical resources, attaches great importance to the development of biobanks. In recent years, with the increasing support from the Chinese government, biobanks are blooming across the country. This paper provides a detailed overview of China biobanking, which is further divided in the following four parts: (i) general introduction of the number, category and distribution of current biobanks; (ii) summarization of the current development status, and issues that Chinese biobanks are faced with; (iii) international cooperation between China and the global biobanking community; (iv) prospect of the modern twenty-first century Chinese biobanks, which would achieve standardized operation, systematic specimen management, and extensive collaboration, and thus provide support for the robust research discoveries and personalized medicine etc.