LAUSR

In 2014, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/Technical Committee (TC)276/Working Group (WG)2 Biobanks and bioresources was formed— its scope is to ‘‘elaborate a package of International Standards in the Biobanking field, including human, animal, plant, and microorganism resources for research and development, but excluding therapeutic products.’’ WG members are international biorepository experts from >20 countries who are in the process of developing a number of voluntary consensus standards intended to facilitate cooperation, foster exchange, and assist in harmonization of practices in the biobanking community. This topic was first discussed in the ISBER Corner in 2015. The first Draft International Standard (DIS) is now available for ballot and comment: ISO/DIS 20387 Biotechnology–Biobanking– General requirements for biobanking. Comments from the biorepository community are both welcome and encouraged.