Environmental Impact Assessment of Biobanking Strategies: Creating a Sustainable Biobanking Roadmap for sample storage

生物样本库策略的环境影响评估：为样本存储制定可持续的生物样本库路线图

• 批准号: MR/X011690/1
• 负责人: Gabrielle Samuel
• 金额: $ 10.27万
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FX011690%2F1
• 关键词: Environmental; Impact; Assessment; Biobanking; Strategies

The UK has made a commitment to achieve net-zero by 2050. To achieve this, the UK must develop environmentally sustainable health research strategies immediately. Biobanks have expanded dramatically over the past few decades and large-scale biobanks are now a mainstay in the UK, including UK Biobank and the forthcoming Our Futures Health. While biobanks support a wide range of health researchers, they are also associated with unintended environmental impacts, including natural resource extraction and consumption, carbon emissions, waste, the production of hazardous chemicals, and impacts on biodiversity. This project focuses on their impacts associated with carbon emissions in line with the NHS's promise to reach net-zero by 2050. A primary source of a biobank's emissions comes from the storage of biological samples at ultra-low temperatures (ULTs). This project aims to assess the carbon emissions associated with two ULT storage options for biobanks: ULT freezers and liquid nitrogen (LN2). Using a case study approach of three biobanking sites, this project will assess both the direct carbon emissions associated with each storage option, as well as the embodied carbon emissions from their production, manufacturing and transport. It will also consider how different storage configurations affect these assessments, including decentralised versus centralised ULT freezer storage, and generating LN2 on-site versus having it delivered. Finally, it will assess the accompanying financial costs for each storage approach and configuration. These assessments will be drawn together in two stakeholder workshops that will explore the perceived drivers and barriers associated with each storage strategy (financial, social, political etc), including what pressures exist for individual researchers to choose a particular option as opposed to another. As much as possible and to refrain from being carbon-centric, they will also discuss the inter-relationship between carbon emissions and other environmental impacts, and any trade-offs between them. These workshops will also be used to co-design guidelines on how institutions and funders can best support researchers to attain the most environmentally sustainable biobanking practices.

英国已致力于到2050年获得净零。为了实现这一目标，英国必须立即制定环境可持续的健康研究策略。在过去的几十年中，生物库已经急剧扩展，而大规模的生物库现在已成为英国的中流tay柱，包括英国生物库和即将到来的我们的未来健康。尽管生物库支持广泛的健康研究人员，但它们也与意外的环境影响有关，包括自然资源提取和消费，碳排放，废物，危险化学物质的产生以及对生物多样性的影响。该项目的重点是与碳排放相关的影响，符合NHS到2050年达到净零的承诺。生物库排放的主要来源来自于在超低温度（ULTS）下生物样品的存储。该项目旨在评估与生物库的两个Ult存储选择相关的碳排放：Ult冷冻机和液氮（LN2）。该项目使用三个生物库站点的案例研究方法，将评估与每个存储选项相关的直接碳排放，以及其生产，制造和运输中体现的碳排放。它还将考虑不同的存储配置如何影响这些评估，包括分散的和集中的Ult Freezer存储，以及生成LN2现场与交付的现场。最后，它将评估每种存储方法和配置的随附的财务成本。这些评估将在两个利益相关者研讨会上一起进行，这些讲习班将探讨与每个存储策略（财务，社会，政治等）相关的驱动因素和障碍，包括个人研究人员选择特定选择而不是另一种选择的压力。他们将尽可能多地避免以碳为中心，还将讨论碳排放和其他环境影响之间的相互关系以及它们之间的任何权衡。这些研讨会还将用于共同设计机构和资助者如何最好地支持研究人员获得最可持续的生物群体实践的指南。