FIG. 1.

Biobank/Biospecimen collection transformation events. In example pathway 1, a large biobank may have a change event caused by the loss of funding or leadership. This event may or may not be defined by a finite endpoint. Operationally, the biobank may (a) choose to restructure itself and carry on under a new leadership/funding plan and/or it may plan to redistribute biospecimens or change strategic accrual targets or (b) close and distribute and/or destroy biospecimens and data. In example pathway 2, a small project-specific biospecimen collection may experience a change event caused by termination of funding, leadership, arrival at a planned defined endpoint, or may be abandoned (e.g., leading to an unexpected find by another researcher) or repurposed for a new unrelated study initiative. With these changes, the original collection may be the nidus for a new biobank or it may be distributed and merged into an existing collection and/or destroyed.