8B: Balancing ethics and innovation: ELSI in biobanking

This session will cover complex ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) that shape biobanking practices and influence public trust. It will show how integrating ethics directly into biobanking processes as a core component can drive responsible innovation. Participants will gain insight into strategies for navigating regulatory landscapes, addressing social concerns and fostering collaborative environments that enhance both scientific discovery and ethical integrity.

Speakers included in this session:

• Mark Barnes – The Seattle Principles: Promoting a harmonized ethical framework for banking and secondary research use of human biospecimens and associated data

• Nida Jawaid – An ethical engagement model for biobanking in low-resource, culturally diverse settings: Lessons from Pakistan

• Sara Casati & Francesca Frexia – BBMRI consent to biobanking governance over time and in the real world through a standard-based digital approach

• Claire Lewis – Beyond the algorithm: Trustworthy AI and the role of biobanking infrastructures in pathology and imaging

• Dorota Krekora-Zając – Limits of commercialisation in biobanking and the European Health Data Space: Towards harmonised participant protection

This session will be chaired by Dr. Ronny Baber and Tom Southerington.