The activities of biobanks and scientific research banks will be regulated in Moldova for the first time. A bill that was given a first reading by Parliament stipulates the conditions for taking and storing liquid samples, such as integral blood, plasma, serum, urine, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid, IPN reports.

The deputy head of the Parliament’s commission on social protection, health and family Adrian Belyi, who is one of the authors of the legislative initiative, said that the notion of biological bank or biobank is defined for the first time. The biobank is generally defined as a collection of human biological samples and associated information, such as DNA descriptions, descriptions of the state of health, genealogies, genetic data and data that enable to identify donors of biological samples, organized in a systematic way for research purposes. The data are gathered and maintained by the biobank manager.

A biobank can organize research activity in health and personalized medicine and ensures donation is voluntary, while the identity of donors is confidential and protects the persons from the arbitrary use of genetic data and from discrimination based on the interpretation of the structure of their DNA. The bill regulates the processing and storing of solid sampled, such as tissue fragments and cells, of cell components and subcomponents and of biochemical/molecular fractions, like DNA, RNA, proteins.

The bill explains the rights and obligations of the donors of human biological samples, chief manager and authorized users of the biobank and the conditions needed for becoming a donor of human biological samples, the ownership rights over the biological samples and stored data, and the conditions for protecting data.

The bill is to be given a final reading.