National Cancer Institute Best Practices for Biospecimen Resources

This book identifies practices for biospecimen collection, processing, storage, retrieval, and dissemination and addresses concepts of good laboratory practice to ensure a level of consistency and standardization across biospecimen resources. A biospecimen resource is defined as a collection of human specimens and associated data for research purposes, the physical structure where the collection is stored, and all relevant processes and policies. Biospecimen resources vary considerably, ranging from formal organizations to informal collections of materials in an individual researcher's freezer.