At European Biobank Week Congress presents survey results on Latvian population's attitude towards biobanks

Research biobanks are collections of human biological samples (eg, blood, tissue, urine, respiratory samples). In biobanks, with the consent of the donors, both biological samples and information (eg, age, disease, test results) on the people who donated these samples are stored. With the permission of the Ethics Committee, scientists can analyze samples and related information in specific studies. Biobank scientists are needed to conduct research relevant to public health, diagnosis and treatment of disease. However, the operation of biobanks also raises many ethical questions about how to obtain the informed consent of each biological donor, for what studies to give samples from biobank, how to inform the public about the results of research, etc.

The results of the survey show that the population of Latvia is still poorly informed about research biobanks - only 26% have so far heard about biobanks. 37% of respondents said they would like to provide information about themselves for inclusion in a biobank, which is slightly more than in 2010, when the same questions were asked in the Eurobarometer survey. When asked whether personal data and biological samples should be facilitated between biobanks in the Member States of the European Union, 60% of respondents answered in the affirmative.

The importance of biobanks in carrying out research relevant to public health is growing rapidly, so it is important for citizens to be aware of biobanks, how they work and how to become biobanks donors. Currently, the Law on Biobanks is being developed in Latvia, which requires dialogue between scientists, the public, donors and policy makers. The experience of other countries suggests that the management of biobanks should be based on public opinion research, which significantly contributes to public confidence in biobanks. The research carried out within the framework of the project will provide the currently missing data on public, donor and scientific opinion in the field of biobanks to substantiate the public interest model of biobanks in Latvia, as well as to develop the necessary regulatory enactments.

In picture: researchers of the LU KPMI Signe Mežinska, Daiga Šantare and researcher of Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre Vita Rovīte at the stand report

The project “Ethically and socially responsible governance of research biobanks in Latvia: analysis of opinions of public, donors and researchers” is funded by the Latvian Council of Science, project number lzp-2018 / 2-0171.