Air date: February 7, 2010

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We begin today with a look at biobanks. Those are the collections of human biological material, such as blood and tissue, that are stored and studied.

Biobanks hold enormous promise for medical research. But like just about many advances in medicine, they also create a new set of ethical questions.

Such as: How will the information be gathered and used?
And who will benefit from possible breakthroughs?

We’ve assembled a group of experts to provide some answers to these questions. This week: we’ll start with how biobanks work, and who donates to them.

I’m joined in the studio by Dr. Scott Denne, a professor at the IU School of Medicine and an active researcher in the field of pediatrics. Plus, we're joined by our regular contributor, Dr. Eric Meslin, who directs IU’s Center for Bioethics.

Next week we’ll look at what will be done with the discoveries made possible by biobanks.

Also, our segment podcast contains the extended version of the biobank discussion with Dr. Scott Denne and Dr. Eric Meslin.

Additional Resources:

• Read more about biobanks at BioBank Central.org.
• Visit the Indiana University Center for Bioethics.

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