Central Biobank

There are six National Centers for Advanced Medical Specialties (National Center: NC) in Japan, each of which has its own biobank.
The NC biobanks collect samples and clinical information on diseases in their areas of expertise.

The National Center Biobank Network (NCBN) is a joint project among the six National Centers with the goal of creating a research platform for "new medicines".
To achieve this goal, the six NC biobanks provide their samples and clinical information for medical research and drug discovery.

• Drug development research through industry-academia-government collaboration using an integrated database of disease-specific information based on the NCBN.

  AMED Funding for Research to Expedite Effective drug discovery by Government, Academia and Private partnership (GAPFREE) is a program for supporting the development and commercialization of pharmaceuticals in Japan. It involves conducting multilayered omics analysis of genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, etc., on samples with high-quality clinical information held in the NCBN in collaboration with seven member companies of the JPMA.
  The results are combined with clinical laboratory values, image data, and other clinical information to create an integrated database of disease-specific information in a joint industry-academia-government project. Utilizing this integrated database of disease-specific information, we aim to deepen our understanding of diseases. Academia will propose new disease classifications and early diagnosis methods, while the pharmaceutical industry will identify target molecules and biomarkers for stratified patient populations.

• Creation of healthy group and disease control group data necessary for the promotion of genomic medicine for cancer and intractable diseases

  Whole genome analyses will be performed for intractable diseases and cancer diseases. Whole genome analyses of healthy control data are necessary for genome analyses for these diseases. The whole genome analyses will be performed for healthy controls or controls for cancer or intractable diseases on samples selected from the 6 NC biobanks in consideration of regional characteristics, and a genome database for healthy controls and disease controls will be created.

• Genomic analysis for patients with a history of allergies to NSAIDs, antibiotics, contrast media, and alcohol disinfection

  This will involve extracting drug allergy history from clinical information held by each NC in the NCBN catalog database. Genome-wide SNP arrays will be performed on drug strains for which more than a certain number of genes are detected, to obtain gene regions potentially causing hypersensitivity to specific drug strains.

• Genomic analysis for patients with contrast media nephropathy

  While predicting the onset of contrast nephropathy is difficult, it is an adverse effect that always needs to be taken into consideration in clinical practice. In this study, we will conduct a genomic analysis of patients with or without contrast agent nephropathy. This will be done by matching information in the central biobank catalog database with electronic patient information in each NC that can be linked to the database via the NCBN, and narrowing it down.

• Study on the provision of biobank samples with genetic analysis and other data.

  This will entail conducting a study on the provision of disease biobank samples stored in the 6 NC biobanks with attached genetic analysis and other data, identifying the issues and establishing a system and structure. The analyzed genomic data will be returned as basic information on individual biobank cases, aiming to improve the quality of the NC Biobanks overall, a data sharing network environment among the 6 NC biobanks will be established and data shared within the NC Biobanks.

• Genome Research Platform Utilization System Project

  The NCBN has been participating in AMED's "Genome Research Platform Utilization System Project" with Tohoku Medical Megabank (ToMMo) and Biobank Japan (BBJ) since FY 2018, and the biobank cross search system started in October 2019. NCBN's bioresources are rich in variety, are subject to high quality control at the ISO9001 level, and can provide detailed clinical information, making them highly valued by researchers in Japan and overseas. The company has been attracting attention .
  
  Biobank cross search system>> AMED BIOBANK CROSS-SEARCH

• Creating a common platform for promoting medical research and development

  The Central Biobank will be able to provide NCBN bioresources for the purpose of promoting medical research and development in Japan, and a common platform will be created for this. The catalog database will be part of the common platform for information retrieval among the 6 NC biobanks.

The Central Biobank of the National Center Biobank Network (NCBN) is responsible for promoting biobank activities and deepening collaboration among the six National Centers for Advanced and Specialized Medical Research (NCs). As of September 2021, the NCBN had registered as many as 420,000 samples with detailed clinical information based on high-level expertise with the cooperation of more than 120,000 patients. It is one of the leading biobanks in Japan and continues to grow day by day.

As Director of the Central Biobank, I will be involved in various initiatives. I will utilize my knowledge and experience in human genetics and genome medicine, my areas of expertise, while working closely with the six NC biobanks, to further enhance the usefulness of the NCBN and make it available to as many people as possible.

The first thing will be to add genomic information to the NCBN samples that already have detailed clinical information. This will provide a valuable research resource for the realization of future medical goals of precision medicine and genomic medicine. As an example, last year we performed whole genome analysis on more than 9,000 NCBN samples to provide control group data necessary for genomic medical research on cancer and intractable diseases. We are using this data to conduct collaborative research on various diseases, registering them in public databases and making them available to the public, and are working on creating an environment allowing us to provide samples with additional genomic information.

The second is collaboration with other biobanks. NCBN is one of the three major biobanks in Japan along with Biobank Japan (BBJ) and Tohoku Medical Megabank. Although these biobanks have different characteristics, they can make a significant fundamental contribution to medical research through cooperation and collaboration with each other. The following is a brief example. A search system across the 3 biobanks has been created so that researchers can see which biobank has the samples they want to use simply by browsing it. In addition, detailed discussions have begun to determine the extent to which procedures and conditions for using biobank materials can be standardized.

In addition, a project has been started to create a database of valuable NCBN samples and clinical information with added genomic and omics analysis, and collaborate with pharmaceutical companies in drug discovery and development. Research is also underway to search for genomic mutations that cause hypersensitivity to various drugs in rare cases.

Lastly, we will increase our focus on public relations activities in order to communicate the features and activities of the NCBN to as many people as possible and encourage them to make greater use of it.

We sincerely appreciate your continued understanding and support of NCBN.

• Director of the Central Biobank

  Katsushi Tokunaga

  

• Executive Director of the Central Biobank

  Eisei Noiri

• Executive of
  the Central Biobank

  • Yosuke Omae
  • Akino Takase

• Central Database
  Public Relations Department

  • Koji Kitajima
  • Hideyuki Shimanuki

• Advisor of Biobank

  • Yuichi Goto

• Central Biobank related sites

  National Center Biobank Network

  NCBN Electronic-Catalogue-based Database