Biobanking for necrotizing enterocolitis: Needs and standards

Abstract

Background Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a devastating gastrointestinal disease that primarily affects premature infants. Despite medical advances, mortality and morbidity from NEC are still unacceptably high. This is partly because of the lack of specific biomarkers and therapies for this disease. Availability of high-quality biological samples and the associated data from premature infants are key to advance our understanding of NEC, and for biomarker discovery and drug development. To that end, the NEC Society Biorepository was established with the goal of promoting studies in human infants through sharing specialized biospecimen and data procurement for NEC research. Objective In this review, we will discuss the required infrastructure for biobanks, discuss the importance of informatics management, and emphasize the logistical requirements for sharing specimens. Finally, we will discuss the mechanism for how tissues and material will be shared between the institutions. Conclusion We have developed a state-of-the-art biobank for human infants to advance the field of NEC research. With the NEC Society Biorepository, we seek to facilitate and accelerate the basic and translational studies on NEC to provide hope to the infants afflicted with NEC and their families.