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Updated: Mar 23, 2026
Biobank for Translational Medicine: Standard Operating Procedures for Optimal Sample Management
Published on: November 30, 2022
Best Practice BioBanking of Human Heart Tissue
Sean Lal1, Amy Li1, David Allen1
1Bosch Institute, Discipline of Anatomy & Histology (F13), Sydney Heart Bank, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia.
Insights
This review guides researchers in establishing biobanks and accessing human heart samples. It details the Sydney Heart Bank
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Research
- Biobanking
- Tissue Engineering
Background:
- The Sydney Heart Bank (SHB) was established in 1989.
- It plays a crucial role in providing human heart samples for research.
- The late Victor Chang was instrumental in its founding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To guide researchers in establishing biobanks.
- To provide practical advice for accessing human heart samples.
- To detail the operational procedures and services of the SHB.
Main Methods:
- Standard operating procedures for tissue collection, including cryopreservation.
- Quality assurance protocols to maintain sample integrity.
- Development of tissue microarrays (TMA) for molecular analysis.
Main Results:
- The SHB houses approximately 16,000 heart samples from over 550 individuals.
- Samples represent diverse categories of heart failure and healthy donors.
- Over 50 laboratories have received samples over two decades.
Conclusions:
- The SHB is a valuable resource for cardiovascular research.
- Established procedures ensure high-quality, long-term sample integrity.
- Services like TMAs and detailed request/shipment logistics support external researchers.
Abstract:
This review provides a guide to researchers who wish to establish a biobank. It also gives practical advice to investigators seeking access to samples of healthy or diseased human hearts. We begin with a brief history of the Sydney Heart Bank (SHB) from when it began in 1989, including the pivotal role played by the late Victor Chang. We discuss our standard operating procedures for tissue collection which include cryopreservation and the quality assurance needed to maintain the long-term molecular and cellular integrity of the samples. The SHB now contains about 16,000 heart samples derived from over 450 patients who underwent isotopic heart transplant procedures and from over 100 healthy organ donors. These enable us to provide samples from a wide range of categories of heart failure. So far, we have delivered heart samples to more than 50 laboratories over two decades, and we answer their most frequently asked questions. Other SHB services include the development of tissue microarrays (TMA). These enable end users to perform preliminary examinations of the expression and localisation of target molecules in diseased or aging donor hearts, all in a single section of the TMA. Finally, the processes involved in managing tissue requests from external users and logistics considerations for the shipment of human tissue are discussed in detail.
