Recent advances in the biological and medical fields have increased the value of research on biological samples stored in biobanks. These biological resources are an essential aid to the development of research in many developing countries. This research should contribute to improving health care and reducing disease in these countries [1, 2].
A biobank is defined as a structure that receives, processes, stores and makes available biological samples and associated data for research and clinical care purposes. Samples can be of human, animal, plant and environmental origin [3-6].
In its operation, the biobank guarantees the quality of the procedures for collecting, transporting, processing, storing and making available biological samples in compliance with the rules of good practice and regulations [6].
Over the past three decades, technological advances have enabled biobanks to grow. As a result, the number of samples stored has increased significantly and biobanks have moved from project-specific (individual) to population-based studies [4, 7].
Today, the biobank is essential to the development of scientific research and has several interests: (i) it plays a crucial role in the conservation of species [8, 9]; (ii) it contributes to the public good, health and well-being of the population by providing a better understanding of the specific profile of each patient in order to develop more targeted treatments [10]; (iii) it makes it possible to design more effective and less costly drugs for health systems [11, 12].
Most biobanks are located in developed countries, but the landscape is changing rapidly as developing countries are increasingly establishing their own biobanks [7, 13-15], including Côte d'Ivoire. That country established a biobank in 2009, which has been home to the regional biobank of the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) since 2018. This biobank is located within Pasteur Institute of Côte d'Ivoire (PICI), a Biological and Medical Research Center. Several samples from several countries in the sub-region, including Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria are kept at the ECOWAS biobank. These preserved samples are of human, animal, plant, environmental and microbial origin. This biobank contributes to the epidemiological surveillance of influenza and measles in Côte d'Ivoire. It also participated in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) PREDICT 2 project, whose overall objective was to strengthen the capacity of the surveillance system for human and animal diseases in high-risk regions.
The successful operation of a biobank requires comprehensive interactions between the different actors involved in biobanking, including the public, patients, health care providers, government and donors [16, 17]. Public support, understanding and active participation are essential to the survival of biobanking and research in general. Several studies have described the role of the public [18, 19] and patients [20-22] in biobanking, but very few studies have examined the role of health professionals.
Biological and medical laboratories are the gateways for biological samples. Therefore, appropriate assessment of biobank knowledge, training and continuing education of laboratory professionals can ensure continued development and innovation in the field of biomedical research. A better understanding of the basic knowledge of laboratory professionals about biobanking is therefore essential. Very few studies have assessed knowledge of biobanking among laboratory professionals in general and no such studies are conducted in Côte d'Ivoire in particular. The main objective of this study was to assess the level of knowledge of laboratory professionals about biobanking.