Dr Fay Betsou, Chief Scientific Officer at IBBL (Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg) and President of ISBER (International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories), collaborated with international cancer research and biobanking experts on a Handbook for Cancer Research in Africa.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa published the handbook in late 2013, which was prepared by experts in cancer research and control, through the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC). It is part of a larger initiative to improve the cancer research in Africa, where it is still a relatively young discipline. Ultimately, this should improve patient outcomes for a disease that is becoming an increasing health burden on the continent. To this end, the handbook discusses the principles of preparing, conducting and communicating cancer research with a focus on Africa-specific issues.
With her years of experience in biobanking and biospecimen research, Dr Betsou, contributed to the handbook’s chapter about Biosampling and Biobanking. By defining and promoting good biobanking practices in Africa, the chapter aims to arm African scientists with the tools to establish biospecimen collections, which can serve as an instrument for local and international cancer research collaborations. It discusses storage facilities, requirements for appropriate quality management and IT systems, collection and processing methods for different types of human biospecimen, quality control tools and finally the legal and ethical issues addressed by Biobanking regulations.
The complete handbook is available here