The functionality, sustainability and continuous development of biobanks is only possible through the implementation of biobank quality standards. In terms of national and international sample / data transfer and advancement of research in health and life sciences through its contributions to biobanking activities, the implementation of international biobanking standards and technical documents -set up as a result of the long, meticulous work of biobank specialists- have critical significance.
The “ISO 20387: 2018: Biotechnology – Biobanking Accreditation Workshop” was held in Turkey in February under the coordination of the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TÜRKAK) for TÜRKAK’s accreditation specialists, auditors / technical specialists, as well as managers and employees of biobanks in Turkey.
The workshop was conducted online between 16-18 February 2021 within the scope of the IPA-II project “Enhancement of TÜRKAK’s Capacity in the Accreditation of Conformity Assessment Bodies” funded by the European Union (EU) and Turkey, which TÜRKAK is a beneficiary of.
On the first day of the ‘ISO 20387 – Biotechnology– Biobanking’ standards training, speeches were delivered by TÜRKAK Deputy Secretary General Dr. Kürşat Özdemir, BBMRI-ERIC Director Prof. Dr. Jens Habermann, TÜRKAK accreditation specialist Emre Durmuş and BBMRI Turkey Coordinator Prof. Dr. Neşe Atabey, informing participants on TÜRKAK’s training organisations, the BBMRI-ERIC Biobank Consortium and the BBMRI Turkey Biobank Network. Following these speeches, BBMRI Quality Manager Andrea Wutte gave training on the requirements of the ISO 20387 standard and putting these into practice. This was followed by group work on sharing information and expertise among accreditation specialists and biobankers, overcoming existing problems and sharing good practices in biobanking.
This activity contributed greatly to the harmonisation of biobanking quality standards in biobanks in Turkey, as well as accelerating the ISO 20387 accreditation process.