Building Bridges for Collaboration: the University of Iowa Women's Health Tissue Repository
Authors: Santillan Donna Ann , Davis Heather Anne , Jacobus Laura Schomberg , Hamilton Wendy Sue , Schappet James Charles , Scroggins Sabrina Marie , Devor Eric Jeffrey , Brandt Debra Sue , Thomas Kellie Marie , Leslie Kimberly Kay , Santillan Mark Kharim 
Published: November 2023

The University of Iowa Women's Health Tissue Repository (WHTR) is a large biobank in which specimens collected and have significant clinical annotations with the goal of facilitating research. This umbrella organization contains the Maternal Fetal Tissue Bank (IRB#200910874), Paternal Contributions to Children's Health (IRB# 201208773), Reproductive, Endocrinology and Infertility Tissue Bank (IRB# 201010769), Well Woman Bank (IRB# 201202714), and Gynecologic Malignancies Tissue Bank (IRB# 200209010). Patient consent and sample collection, processing, and storage is carried out by the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

In 2013, the University of Iowa instituted the UI Bioshare program and it went live in 2015. UI Bioshare is an enterprise‐level biospecimen management system. This system established a common ontology for use across biobanks at our institution. Goals of the program include 1) users being able to explore aggregate inventory queries, 2) to develop resources to decrease manual data abstraction and entry and 3) to position the University of Iowa for large‐scale projects in clinical research and personalized medicine initiatives. A core group of biobanks, including the Women's Health Tissue Repository, participated in the purchase, design, and implementation of the program.

As a result of the implementation, the WHTR now shares a common data dictionary with our institutional peer biobanks. The common definitions have allowed for an honest broker in UI Bioshare to query our databases to gather aggregate information for grant submissions. Our sample inventory management is significantly improved for data entry and for queries by investigators. In total, 180,000 samples were migrated into UI Bioshare and 200,000 have been newly entered since the go live. Of these 55,000 samples were migrated for the WHTR and 15,750 have been collected and entered by us since our go‐live in September of 2015. At the enterprise level, information form 18,000 unique participants were migrated and 3000 new participants have been added. The WHTR migrated information from 2700 participants and have enrolled 750 new participants. We have also experienced a reduction in manual data extraction from the electronic medical record. This has significantly reduced the time required to extract information such as demographics from weeks to minutes. Users of the WHTR have been able to perform queries of samples and data independently; the amount of information available to them is based on permissions and roles built into the software. We now have collaborations with other departments including Pharmacology, Health & Human Physiology, Pediatrics, Toxicology, and Epidemiology. In addition, we collaborate with other groups within the US and internationally.

Despite initial concerns regarding data ownership, changes to workflow, and the time investment required for migrating data, the experience of the Women's Health Tissue Repository in participating in an enterprise‐wide system has been positive. Our biorepository is no longer a silo of information, but is now bridged to other university biobanks which allows for larger‐scale collaborations.

Support or Funding Information

University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, National Institutes of Health CTSA U54TR001356, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, American Heart Association SFRN in Hypertension, Reproductive Scientist Development Program (NIH K12 HD000849), Burroughs Wellcome Fund (1015358), March of Dimes Foundation (4‐FY15‐415)