Training the Next Generation of Biobankers: A Two-Year Master's Course in the Management of Biobanks.

ABSTRACT

The growing complexity of biobanking requires dedicated professional staff who are trained in multiple aspects of the biobanking process, including technical, managerial, regulatory, and ethical aspects, and who have a good understanding of the challenges of biospecimen research, but also of the challenges related to the sustainability of future biobanks. Up to the present, biobanking staff have been trained in an ad-hoc manner, usually through specific short duration courses, for example, summer schools. In this article, we describe the development/establishment of a systematic 2-year training program at the Master level intended for students with a background in life sciences and providing them with a professional qualification as a "Biobank Manager." This course was developed in 2010 as a joint initiative of the Catholic University of Lyon and the University of Nice-Sophia-Antipolis (France). The multidisciplinary training offers courses on biobank design and infrastructure, on pre- and postanalytical processing of different types of biospecimens, on protocol development, on ethical and regulatory aspects, as well as an introduction to epidemiology and translational research. In parallel, students also receive generic training in management, budget planning, data analysis, and statistics, as well as 11 months of hands-on training in various biobanks handling human, animal, plant, or microbial biospecimens. Four groups of students have graduated since 2012, for a total of 44 students, who all found jobs in biobanking within 6 months of graduation.