NLDB became the first accredited biobank for COVID-19 samples in India
Quality and Accreditation Institute (QAI)’s Centre for Laboratory Accreditation issued a biobank accreditation certificate to the National Liver Disease Biobank (NLDB) of the Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences. This became the first biobank accreditation certificate issued in India, marking that India has established a biobanking accreditation system as per the international standard ISO 20387 and is at the forefront of biobanking accreditation in the world.
NLDB became one of the few biobanks in Asia Pacific to achieve this recognition after few biobanks in USA and China. Most importantly, NLDB became the first accredited biobank for COVID-19 samples in India. Through this accreditation system, standardisation of India’s biobanking sector as per the international standard has begun which will strengthen biobanks to demonstrate competent biobanking operation and the ability to provide biological material and associated data of appropriate quality for research and development.
This will help the quality and capacity building of India’s biobanks in supporting research in all sectors however medical science will be one of the most benefitted sectors to advance development of new drugs and vaccines to fight with the emergent diseases.
Dr B.K. Rana, CEO, QAI said, “We are committed to help and support biobanks to establish and operate credible biobanking system through accreditation as per ISO 20387. QAI accreditation programme is open to all biobanks seeking accreditation in India and other countries. QAI has once again emerges as a leader in the field of Quality and Accreditation supporting the national quality infrastructure.
He further added that the role of leadership of NLDB and Dr. Birendra Kumar Yadav, Manager has been tremendous and thank them for their trust in QAI accreditation programme. NLDB Staff deserves commendation for their hard work in achieving accreditation. Our assessment team and Technical Committee earns special mention for their continuous support.
“The most important aspect of the samples lies in making them available to researchers. We are hoping that accreditation of NLDB will inspire and encourage other biobanks and biorepositories in various fields to actively participate in the accreditation programme to demonstrate their competence and credibility globally. We also call upon experts to actively involve and use their knowledge, strengths and abilities to promote the scientific, standardised, transparent and coordinated development of biobanking accreditation’ said Prof. Vikram Kumar, Chairman of the Board of QAI’s Centre for Laboratory Accreditation.
National Liver Disease Biobank (NLDB) was set up at the Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences (ILBS) as a joint initiative of Delhi Government and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.