A2LA is proud to announce the issuance of its first accreditation, and the first such accreditation in the world, to the newly published standard ISO 20387:2018 – Biobanking – General requirements for biobanking.

ISO 20387 contains requirements designed to demonstrate the competence of a biobank’s operation and ability to provide biological material and associated data for research and development.  This initial accreditation was granted to the Cornell Veterinary Biobank located at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

"Being the first Accreditation Body in the world to accredit a biobank to the new ISO 20387 standard is certainly an exciting milestone for A2LA, but more important is the fact that our staff and technical experts rolled out this new program in such a timely manner to meet industry needs while also forming a quality foundation from which we can build upon” said Trace , Vice-President of Accreditation Services.  “We congratulate Cornell for being the first biobank accredited to this new standard and we look forward to a long-term partnership with their staff in serving their accreditation needs.”

The Cornell Veterinary Biobank collects, processes and stores blood and tissue samples from multiple animal species, benefiting from a close relationship between the College’s hospital and with strategic partnerships. The organization is a non-profit recognized core resource for researchers around the world, providing access to high quality samples associated with accurate clinical data.  The Biobank’s mission is to serve the research community by helping accelerate biomedical research as an accredited resource for standardized biospecimen collection and archiving. Their goal is to improve animal and human health, by promoting translational research (bench to bedside) that will ultimately result in precision medicine advancements with more effective, better targeted, and less toxic therapies.

“The Cornell Veterinary Biobank is proud to be the first biobank — of any type — in the world to achieve ISO accreditation under this new standard, and we are grateful for the A2LA team’s dedication to quality and thorough review. The entire college came together for this process because we know that quality accreditation increases confidence in our work, continuously improves how we serve our clients, and contributes to reproducibility in research,” said Dr. Marta, director of the Cornell Veterinary Biobank.

Following publication of the new standard in August 2018, A2LA developed its accreditation program in coordination with their technical advisory committee and industry experts, which ensured that this new area of accreditation would meet the expected level of exceptional quality assessments and deliver confidence in the materials provided from these accredited organizations. A2LA’s program ensures that the accreditation process fits to the specific activities being performed by each biobank or biorepository.  This approach allows for a tailored approach to the on-site assessment for biobanks that perform all critical activities (acquisition, collection, preparation preservation, testing, analysis, distribution), as well as the smaller biobank’s that may only be managing the associated data.

A2LA is also a member of International Society for Biobanking and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), whose vision is to be the leading global biobanking forum for promoting harmonized high-quality standards, education, ethical principles, and innovation in the science and management of biorepositories.

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