Study of laboratory staff’ knowledge of biobanking in Côte d’Ivoire

BACKGROUND: A biobank is a structure which collects and manages biological samples and their associated data. The collected samples will then be made available for various uses. The sharing of those samples raised ethical questions which have been answered through specific rules. Thus, a Biobank functioning under tight ethical rules would be immensely valuable from a scientific and an economic view point. In 2009, Côte d’Ivoire established a biobank, which has been chosen to house the regional biobank of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries in 2018. To ensure optimal and efficient use of this biobank, the scientific community must be aware of its existence and its role. It was therefore necessary to evaluate the knowledge of laboratories staff on the role and activities of a biobank. METHODS: This descriptive study was done by questioning staff from laboratories working on human’s health, animals or plants. The laboratories were located in southern Côte d’Ivoire. RESULTS: A total of 205 people completed the questionnaire. Of these 205 people, 34.63% were biologists, 7.32% engineers, 48.78% technicians and 9.27% PhD students. The average length of work experience was 10.11 ± 7.83 years. In this study, 43.41% of the participants had never heard of biobanking. Only 48.78% of participants had a good understanding of the role of a biobank. Technicians and PhD students were less educated on the notion of biobank (p < 0.000001). Although biologists were more educated on this issue, 21.13% of them had a misconception of biobank. Good knowledge of the role of a biobank was not significantly related to the work experience’s length (p > 0.88). CONCLUSION: The level of knowledge of laboratory staff about biobanking needs to be improved. Training on the role, activities and interests of the biobank is important.