Table.

Lessons from different biobanking models

	Operations	Advantages	Disadvantages
Centralised model (eg, tuberculosis)	A physical biobank of clinical specimens and strains collected from different sites worldwide	Single inventory; easy to assemble evaluation panels and distribute specimens to aid test development	Most expensive model because of storage and shipping costs; risk of losing shipments or specimen quality, or both, during shipping
Regional model (eg, dengue)	Set up regional hubs: specimens are collected at different sites and then shipped to the hub in their region for characterisation and storage	Tests are evaluated at the two regional hubs using samples from different endemic backgrounds or from people with different comorbidities	Requires shipping from three-to-four sites in each region to a regional hub; difficult to aliquot samples from children for shipping; more organisation required to assemble regional panels
Decentralised network model (eg, leishmaniasis, syphilis)	All samples are collected, characterised, and stored at the site of collection; companies with tests under evaluation ship tests to the sites that have specimens required for evaluation; all sites use a common evaluation protocol	Least expensive as no shipping is involved; tests are evaluated at each site using appropriate specimens from a range of endemic conditions; empower more countries to do evaluations and post-marketing surveillance	Potentially more sample heterogeneity from site to site