How Human Biospecimens can change the world

• 27-02-2023
• 10:15:58

What is a human biospecimen

A biological laboratory specimen kept by a biorepository for research is known as a biological specimen (also known as a biospecimen). Human biospecimens for research are basically, pieces of the human body that are taken out for either medical or biomedical research.

How they can help

Human biospecimens can be used to diagnose diseases and find potential new remedies. Translating fundamental discoveries that are significant to human health into clinical practise requires extensive medical testing on human biospecimens.

How they are obtained

The biospecimen samples would be obtained through sampling in order to be representative of any additional specimens obtained from the specimen’s source. For research purposes, it is ideal for biological specimens to be preserved in a state that is comparable to that of freshly-collected specimens.

How they are conserved

The science of conserving biological specimens is most active in the subject of biobanking, where human biological specimens are kept in a sort of biorepository known as a biobank.

Every biospecimen resource should strive to gather, preserve, and distribute the highest quality biospecimens in accordance with the intended study application. Biospecimens including patient serum samples are classified as being of high quality if their biology most closely resembles that of the biospecimen before it was taken from the human research participant. The biospecimen may start to develop new characteristics after being collected (and occasionally even before being removed) as a result of changes in its environment, such as changes in exposure to specific nutritional, chemical, or other environmental factors that may occur during a surgical procedure or collection procedure. Such modifications could make it difficult to accurately determine the chemical and physical properties of the biospecimen during future investigation.

If utilised properly, human biospecimens can change the face of modern day medical research.