This section introduces you to the Biospecimen Research Database User’s Guide. It includes the following topics:
Purpose
The Biospecimen Research Database (BRD) is an initiative of the Biospecimen Research Network (BRN) program. BRD is a free and publicly accessible database that contains peer-reviewed literature pertinent to the field of human Biospecimen Science. The database is updated daily with both recent and historical publications and may serve as a vehicle for literature review, evaluation of "in use" biospecimen handling protocols, development of new protocols, and identification of analytes that are susceptible or impervious to handling variability. BRD paper entries include primary research or review articles that have been identified, reviewed, and curated by a Ph.D.-level scientist.
This guide explains how to search the BRD and use the new features included in version 3.2.
Audience
This guide is designed for researchers, clinicians, biobanking staff and others who want to search the database to retrieve published information in the field of human biospecimen science.
Prerequisites
To get the most out of this guide, you should have:
- A general understanding that pre-analytical variability associated with biospecimen collection, handling, storage and processing may or may not impact analytical results
- Familiarity working with literature databases such as PubMed
Topics Covered
This brief overview explains what you will find in the succeeding chapters.
- 2 - Search the Biospecimen Research Database explains four methods for searching the database (Simple and Advanced Searches, and Browse by Analyte or Pre-analytical Factor options) and how to interpret search results.
- 3 - Searching and Viewing SOPs and Compendiums explains how to work with SOPs and compendiums.
Additional chapters are available to curators and administrators.
Additional References
For more information about the Biospecimen Research Database, see the Biospecimen Research Network web page.
