INTRODUCTION

Created in 2002, the CRBIP, Centre de Ressources Biologiques de l’Institut Pasteur, is a transversal functional structure that encompasses the five biobanks of the Institut Pasteur, Paris, for a common strategy aligned with the strategic plan of the Institute.

The following Pasteurian biobanks are part of the CRBIP:

1. The ICAReB (Investigation Clinique et Accès aux Ressources Biologiques), which holds more than 13000 human samples from healthy volunteers;
2. The PCC (Pasteur Culture collection of Cyanobacteria), which is the world’s reference collection of Cyanobacteria;
3. The CIP (Collection de l’Institut Pasteur) which preserves more than 15K bacteria from Pasteur’s era until today and is among the top 5 most diverse bacterial collection in the world;
4. The CNCM (Collection Nationale  de Cultures de Micro-organismes), which is the only International Deposit Authority in France and
5. The CVIP (Collection de Virus de l’Institut Pasteur) holding more than 500 viral strains and recently re-opened for distribution.

MISSIONS

In agreement with all five biobanks, a new strategy for the CRBIP is being implemented since early 2019 that renews the CRBIP’s missions to optimize common needs: 

Mission 1: Research, Scientific Cooperation and Innovation
- A central research axis with publications promoting IP biobanks
- Involvement in networks of scientific cooperation and biobanking
- Promote technological valorization and innovation from already existing biological resources to collections
Mission 2: Development of common tools
- Development of collection management software (LIMS, catalog)
- Provision of standardized procedures
- Access to metadata (data associated with biological resources, bioclinics, genomes, -omics ...)
Mission 3: Consulting & expertise
Personalized support for researchers in various fields:
- Technical accompaniment, e.g. support for the establishment of RIIP biobanks (IP Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, IPK) and beyond (Louis Malardé Institute, CNRST Marroc, etc.)
- Declaration of all campus collections (transversal CEBOH mission)
- Centralization of the collections of researchers and CNRs hosted at the Institut Pasteur.
Mission 4: Regulation & Lobbying
Influence on public decision-makers to guide regulation towards the interests of collections (eg Nagoya, GMO, MOT, Budapest):

• Presidency and secretariat of the National Committee of Experts for the collections registered in the European Register for the Nagoya Protocol
• Participation in working groups evolving the Good Biobanking Practices (methods, technologies, governance & regulations)
• Member of the ECCO Board: Standard documentation related to the receipt and distribution of strains
• Board Member MIRRI
  Mission 5: Communication, visibility and accessibility
  Common website
  Common Catalog à access to resources
  Institutional communication: Social networks and representation of collections at congresses and partnership events
  Brochure
  Mission 6: Common Quality Approach

• Risk analysis
• Optimize common document management tool
• Optimize budget certification
• Feedback of experiences for the identification of common solutions

OUR HISTORY

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS

The CRBIP is part of different networks:

• The national 3CR network
• The European Research Infrastructure BBMRI-ERIC (Reference AO 203)
• The European Research Infrastructure MIRRI
• The European, Middle East and Africa Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking,  ESBB
• The European Organisation of Culture Collections, ECCO (Collection Officer since 2018)
• The World Forum of Culture Collections, WFCC (Reference 925)
• Collaborator of the WHO
• Several European projects:
• EMBRIC (european cluster of Research Infrastructures, 4M€)
• RI-VIS (project to improve the visibility of Research Infrastructures, 1.5M€)
• IS_MIRRI21 (project for the consolidation of MIRRI in an ERIC, 4M€)
• EJP-CARE (launching 2020)