The Biobanking in Indiana Public Deliberation Project
18-100 years
Healthy Volunteer
All genders
Did you know that each week, around 100 of your fellow Hoosiers give a vial of blood to help medical researchers?This blood is kept by the Indiana Biobank, a project that is designed to help provide researchers across the state - and even across the nation - with biological samples that they can then use to develop new medicines, better understand diseases, and improve patient care. To date, more than 50,000 people have provided blood samples, and the goal is to collect many more over the coming years.Biobanks need the public’s input on some important issues ranging from figuring how much information biobanks should be gathering about donors to what types of research biobanks should support.We are inviting people from across the state to participate in a project called “The Biobanking in Indiana Public Deliberation.” It is a research study at the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI), a research collaborative between Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame. The project will take place over two weekends during which time participants will learn about the issues, share their perspectives on them, and work together to make recommendations for biobank policy and guidelines.We are not expecting you to have any specialized knowledge about biobanks or research. Instead, you will learn everything you need to know to contribute with the other participants. Your perspectives and life experiences matter – not your expertise!