The Andalusian Biobank strengthens its international position as the leading European biobank company
Rocío Aguilar-Quesada, technical manager of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia, has been elected member of the board of the European, Middle Eastern & African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking (ESBB). This appointment is the result of her experience and participation in multiple initiatives in the field of biopreservation and biobanking, which reinforces her position as an influential figure in the international biobanking community and underlines the relevance of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia in the global arena.
The ESBB is the most important European society in the field of biobanks and its mission is to advance this field to support research related to health, agriculture and the environment. It is created to coordinate and serve all those involved in biobanks.
The main objectives of the ESBB are to identify problems in the field of biobanks and offer solutions; encourage high-level professionals to get involved in this type of platforms; promote the participation in society of a large part of the biobanks in the region; providing services to all parties involved in a biobank; partnering with other organizations involved in or related to biobanks; and fostering and supporting public-private collaborations related to biobanks due to their scientific, medical, and commercial importance, as well as multidisciplinary collaborations between biobanks, researchers, and other stakeholders.
Some of Aguilar-Quesada's duties as a board member include establishing policies and procedures in accordance with the ESBB's mission, statutes, and operating principles; suggesting or approving chairs of committees, working groups, and tasks; considering proposals for amendments or changes to the statutes and operating procedures; organizing annual meetings or supporting the executive committee, among other actions.
Career
Rocío Aguilar-Quesada holds a PhD in Biochemistry with a Master's degree in Molecular and Cellular Immunology and another in Biobanks and the use of human biological samples for biomedical research. Since she started at the SSPA Biobank in 2009, her career has focused on supporting research and improving biological sample treatment processes within the framework of biobanks, training in laboratory quality control and process validation, as well as in ethical-legal aspects.
Her role in ISBER (International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories) stands out, where she is an ambassador for the EMEA Region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and participates in different working groups related to biospecimen research, having contributed to the development of the 5th edition of the Good Practices guide of this Society. In this regard, she has received the ISBER 2024 award in the 'Special Service Award' category for her contribution to the objectives of the society. Within the framework of the Spanish Platform for Biomodels and Biobanks of the ISCIII, Aguilar-Quesada has coordinated the ELSI working group of the Organoid HUB, and is currently co-coordinator of this HUB.
The Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia
The SSPA Biobank is an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Consumption, which constitutes a research support platform specialized in obtaining, processing and storing human biological samples and their associated data, to make them available to the scientific community, thus providing a public service that meets the needs of researchers.
Since 2020, it has welcomed 13,519 new donors with oncological, infectious and parasitic diseases, mental, cardiovascular, respiratory, genitourinary diseases, etc., as well as healthy patients who are used as controls. These new donors have resulted in 51,740 donations, which have resulted in 165,098 samples used in research and teaching projects.