Human biobanks collect and store biological samples from consenting donors, for use in ethically approved health and medical research. These biospecimens may be collected from healthy people and/or people with specific health conditions and are linked to the donor’s relevant personal and health information.
Human biobanks play a vital role in supporting researchers to conduct biomedical, clinical, public and population health studies to advance knowledge and improve health outcomes.
Biobanking can involve:
- identification and consent of participants
- collection and processing of biospecimens
- storage of biospecimens and associated data
- data and records management
- release and distribution of biospecimens and associated data for ethically approved research.
Supporting NSW Health’s biobanking capabilities is a key outcome of the NSW Health Research and Innovation Strategy (2025-2030).
NSW Health Statewide Biobank
The NSW Health Statewide Biobank is a state-of-the-art storage facility for human biospecimens, operated by NSW Health Pathology. Operating in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sydney Local Health District, this purpose-built facility is the first and largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
The NSW Health Statewide Biobank is a game changer for health and medical research in NSW, providing a pathway to better research that leads to better treatment outcomes for patients. Utilising large-scale robotic technology, the facility has capacity to safely process and store over three million samples.
The NSW Health Statewide Biobank provides a range of services to support research projects, clinical trials and biospecimen collections in NSW, including:
- sample collection at NSW Health Pathology collection sites across the state
- transport, processing, storage and access
- grant support.
NSW Biobank Certification Program
The NSW Biobank Certification Program, delivered by NSW Health Pathology and overseen by the NSW Health Statewide Biobank, aims to improve and harmonise biobanking standards through education and communication of best practices and standard operating procedures.
Based on the certification program designed by the Office of Biobank Education and Research at the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Tissue Repository Network, the NSW Biobank Certification Program has been specifically tailored to include Australian-specific laws, regulations and guidelines.
NSW Biobank Registry
The NSW Biobank Registry is a voluntary registry managed by the NSW Health Statewide Biobank and contains information about biobanks that are either registered or certified through the NSW Biobank Certification Program.
Other biobanking resources
The following resources and websites are useful reference points and contain information in relation to biobanking.
The Centre for Health Record Linkage (CHeReL) hosts a secure, high performing data linkage system – one of the largest of its kind in Australia – which facilitates high-quality research and health policy decisions.
CHeReL helps researchers to access linked health data about people in NSW and the ACT for ethically approved research. This includes enabling access to linked data for biospecimens stored at the NSW Health Statewide Biobank and providing expert advice on data custodian approvals.
CSIRO, in collaboration with research and government partners, has released a report highlighting the benefits of national coordination of biobanks and cohort studies in Australia. NSW Health sponsored and contributed to the development of this report and is proud to share the results of this collaboration with CSIRO.
The report discusses forms of coordination needed and estimates the annual economic benefits associated with a national platform for searching and accessing human biospecimens and data.
All research involving humans conducted within the NSW public health system must be ethically and scientifically reviewed and approved by a Human Research Ethics Committee in accordance with the NHMRC National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2025).
ABNA is an organisation that is committed to providing opportunities for individuals with interests in tissue banking and biorepositories to share information and experience. ABNA members include biobankers from across Australia and New Zealand, spanning human disease, zoological and agricultural biobanks.
International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories is a global organisation which creates opportunities for sharing ideas and innovations in biobanking and harmonises approaches to evolving challenges for biological and environmental repositories.
Biopreservation and Biobanking is the official ISBER journal serving the field of biobanking.