Office of Biobank Education and Research (OBER)
The Office of Biobank Education and Research (OBER) is an integral part of the UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. We are a resource for Faculty, Staff and Students in the Department and provide advice and support services for basic translational and clinical researchers in BC and beyond.
Mission:
To provide support for biobanks through education on biospecimen science and communication of best practices and standards for biobanking, in order to advance translational health research.
Overall objective:
To establish an international centre of excellence in biobanking education and biospecimen based translational research.
Specific Goals:
- create and deliver education and training for a range of stakeholders involved in biobanking
- facilitate registration/certification of biobanks in coordination with provincial and national and international biobanking organizations
- develop and deploy mechanisms to communicate common protocols, standards and policies for biobanking
- promote establishment and maintenance of biobanks to support biospecimen based translational research in BC and beyond
Our partners:
To operationalize these goals, OBER operates in the context of a partnership between the UBC Department of Pathology and the BC Cancer Agency Tumour Tissue Repository (TTR) program and also draws on a close functional relationship with the Canadian Tissue Repository Network (CTRNet) funded by Institute for Cancer Research, Canadian Institutes for Health Research.