Through the cooperation of all biobanks in Taiwan, with consistent quality
standards and clinical data content, a large and comprehensive human bi
obank network can be quickly established. As a result, National Biobank C
onsortium of Taiwan (NBCT) was established. The goal of NBCT is to prom
ote the biomedical science in Taiwan and the demand of biotechnology in
dustries. A Central office of NBCT was set up to manage all of the administ
ration work and to play a role as one stop service with good efficiency. Ad
equate and consistent clinical data will also be established under well info
rmation security management.
Since the contents of the biobanks from different institute are quite differ
ent, NBCT is able to quickly establish a large and comprehensive biobank
network. Currently NBCT already successfully invited 33 biobanks to join a
nd has more than 836 thousand participants with various kinds of biosam
ples available for applicants. So far, NBCT already received 158 application
s, including 24 from industries. One of them is an international collaborati
on project and application from Roche. The number of specimens in the N
BCT is very large, coupled with large medical data, it is already Taiwan's l
argest biomedical industry treasure. The future plan is to expand informat
ion security and compliance with biobank regulations, so that applicants c
an analyze and use data online, which will help promote international coo
peration and continue to expand the results and benefits of the integrated
platform , becoming the most important resource for Taiwan's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. It can also attract the interest of foreig
n research institutions or industries, and help establish cooperative relatio
ns with international academic institutions or biotechnology industries.