Great Lakes Biorepository Research Network
"Enhancing biomedical research through the inspiration, development and promotion of biobanking resources and best practices"
News And Events
Van Andel Institute (VAI) announces the addition of a new member to the GLBRN
Dr. Bart Williams, VAI Research Scientist and Professor, joined the GLBRN in June 2022 as VAI’s newest member to the GLBRN. Dr. Williams assumed the Director of Core Technologies and Services at VAI and in that capacity will work closely with Dan Rohrer and the VAI Pathology and Biorepository Core, which is one of the founding GLBRN biorepositories.
GLBRN Paper
The GLBRN recently published an article in Biopreservation and Biobanking describing our last annual symposium titled "A Focus on Precision Medicine". The article provides highlights and key learnings from the symposium and can be found here.
GLBRN 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting
September 7, 2018, 8:00am – 3:00pm
University of Michigan
North Campus Research Complex, Building 18
We are pleased to invite you to attend the 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Great Lakes Biorepository Research Network (GLBRN) on Friday, September 7, 2018, hosted by Dr. Victoria Blanc and the University of Michigan's UMMS Central Biorepository at the North Campus Research Complex. Admission to the GLBRN scientific meeting is free of charge and open to all but registration is required. The Scientific Meeting will begin at 8am with a light breakfast provided and end at 3pm. Scientific vendors will be present throughout the meeting and following the meeting. A boxed lunch is provided upon request from approximately 12pm-1pm.
REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.
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GLBRN at ISBER 2018
The GLBRN members were at ISBER 2018 this year in Dallas, Texas. Beaumont Health presented two posters, one on improving quality through metrics and a second on the downstream effects of different tissue preservation methods. To see the posters in full resolution, click the links below to download:
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Quality Enhancements of your Biorepository Through Continuous Metrics Review
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GLBRN in Action
One of the key goals of the GLBRN is to promote inter-institutional research collaborations through specimen sharing. A recent example of this benefit of GLBRN membership was highlighted through collaboration between researchers at the University of Michigan and Beaumont Health. Dr. Tom Carey, Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at University of Michigan has a long standing interest in defining and understanding oral HPV infection and persistence as well as the molecular mechanisms of treatment resistance in head and neck cancer. Dr. Carey is currently studying patterns of HPV RNA expression in HPV positive oropharyngeal cancers and needed to increase the number of specimens where both cDNA and DNA were available to study fusion transcripts and genomic DNA arrangements. In collaboration with Dr. George Wilson, Chief of Radiobiology and Scientific Director of Beaumont BioBank, they were able to identify appropriate subjects who had been stored in the Beaumont BioBank and transfer the specimens to the University of Michigan using the GLBRN Consortium Agreement which simplified the complex process of biospecimen sharing.
Tom Carey, PhD
GLBRN 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting
November 3, 2017, 8:00am – 1:00pm
Beaumont Health
Beaumont-Royal Oak Campus, Administration Building, 1st Floor OUWB Classroom 1
3601 W. Thirteen Mile Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073
Click here for map & parking directions
We are pleased to invite you to attend the 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Great Lakes Biorepository Research Network (GLBRN) on Friday, November 3, 2017, hosted by Dr. George Wilson and Beaumont’s BioBank at Beaumont Hospital’s Royal Oak Campus, MI. Admission to the GLBRN scientific meeting is free of charge and open to all but registration is required (please note, registration is now closed). The Scientific Meeting consists of a half-day meeting (Session I) beginning at 8:00am with a light breakfast provided. Scientific vendors will be present throughout the meeting with a Vendor Networking Session (Session II) following the Scientific Meeting (a boxed lunch is provided upon request) from approximately 12pm-1pm.
The first keynote presenter will be Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, American Cancer Society Research Professor, and S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology and Urology at the University of Michigan. He is
also the founding Director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP). His presentation is titled “The Application of Integrative Sequencing for Precision Medicine”. The second keynote presenter will be Leonard M. Fleck, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and Medical Ethics in the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University. His presentation is titled “Precision Medicine, Ethical Ambiguity”. See the full agenda below.
Member Application and Biospecimen Request now live!
GLBRN Institutional membership and biospecimen requests are now live. To join the GLBRN, please access the GLBRN application via the Join the GLBRN page. If you are from a Member Institute, you can now request biospecimens. To request biospecimens, fill out the Biospecimen Request via the biospecimen request page.
GLBRN 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting
October 28, 2016, 8:30 – 2:00pm
University of Michigan
North Campus Research Complex Dining Hall
2800 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
The University of Michigan Medical School Central Biorepository is pleased to host the 2016 annual meeting of the Great Lakes Biorepository Research Network, on October 28 in the NCRC cafeteria. The meeting consists of a morning scientific session and afternoon business meeting for those interested in learning more about how to participate in and benefit from the Network. Admission to the meetings is free of charge. Lunch will be provided to guests registered to attend the business meeting. Parking is $10 per vehicle in the NCRC Lot 98. See maps at ncrc.umich.edu.
The keynote address, The Genotype-Tissue Expression Project: Unleashing the Potential of a Multi-Individual, Multi-Tissue Sample Collection, will be presented by Kristin Ardlie, Ph.D., Director of GTEx LDACC at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. All other speakers and activities can be found on the agenda below. Click here for the speaker bios.
GLBRN 2015 Annual Meeting
October 30, 2015, 8:30am-3:00pm
William Beaumont Hospital
Meadowbrook Hall Ballroom
480 South Adams Road, Rochester, Michigan 48309-4401
(248) 364-6200
http://www.meadowbrookhall.org
The William Beaumont Health System's Beaumont Biobank will host the 2015 GLBRN annual meeting. The keynote address, Personalized Medicine: The Odyssey, will be presented by Robert Penny, M.D., Ph.D., founder and CEO of Paradigm and co-founder and CEO of the International Genomics Institute. All other speakers and activities can be found on the agenda below.
Registration is now closed for this meeting.
GLBRN at ISBER 2015
The GLBRN will be at ISBER 2015 for the Annual Meeting in Phoenix Arizona. The meeting is held at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown from May 5 - May 9. Various members of the GLBRN will be presenting oral presentations and posters as follows:
Presentations
Jan Akervall (Beaumont Health System). Thursday, May 7, 3:00pm – 3:15pm (Contributed Paper Session 1 - Laying the Foundations: Biobanking Management Tools) - Legal and Regulatory Obstacles Affecting Implementation of an Inter-Institutional Biobank Network.
Galen Hostetter (VARI). Friday, May 9, 2:45pm - 3:00pm (Contributed Paper Session 3 - Impact and Applications of Biobanking) - Fixation Alternatives and Effect of RNA Degradation: New and Old.
Posters
Jan Akervall (Beaumont Health System). RM-80 The Sustainability Challenge of a Community Hospital-Based Biobank and Core Molecular Laboratory: the Beaumont Experience. Poster Session 2 (Thursday, May 7, 4:30-6:30).
Timothy Geddes (Beaumont Health System). RS-97 Utilizing In-House Resources to Correct Inevitable Sample Mix-Ups in a Medium Throughput Biorepository: Case Studies. Poster Session 2 (Thursday, May 7, 4:30-6:30).
Timothy Geddes (Beaumont Health System). LB-114 Ultralow Freezer Temperature Variability and the Effect on Specimen Integrity as Determined by Proteomic Analysis. Poster Session 2/Late Breaking Posters (Thursday, May 7, 4:30-6:30).
Dianna Larson (Beaumont Health System). RM-76 Utilization of the Kaizen Philosophy for Process Improvement in the Biobank Setting. Poster Session 2 (Thursday, May 7, 4:30-6:30).
Barb Pruetz (Beaumont Health System). RS-112 Preparing Your Biorepository for CAP Accreditation. Poster Session 2 (Thursday, May 7, 4:30-6:30).
Tom Tomlinson (Michigan State University). ELSI-31 Do People Care What’s Done With Their Biobanked Specimens? Poster Session 1 (Wednesday, May 6, 4:30-6:30).
Thank you to all those who attended the First GLBRN Annual Meeting on November 18, 2014. The weather was particularly snowy and kept some away, but we appreciate all the attendees and vendors that made it out and contributed to a successful event. We had representation from eleven different institutions and seventeen industry vendors. Below are some photographs taken during the event.
First GLBRN Annual Meeting
November 18, 2014, 8:30am-1:00pm
333 Bostwick Avenue NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
The Van Andel Research Institute will host the first annual GLRBN meeting. The theme for this year is "Connecting and Advancing the Utility of Biobanks for Biomedical Science." The speakers will present 12 minute talks followed by 3 minutes for discussion on one of the following topics:
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Biobank research (e.g. biobank organization, QA/QC, regulatory, ethics, efficiency, sustainability)
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Translational research using biobanked material, especially multi-institutional
The first session (Scientific Session) is free to attend, will have multiple guest speakers and include a vendor product show. This session will be from 8:30am - 11:35am. A business meeting (open to GLBRN members only) will follow the speaker session from 12:00pm - 1:00pm. The business meeting will include a cash or check fee for lunch of $10.00.
The full agenda vendor list and directions for parking can be found here. A parking pass will be provided upon sign in at the registration table.