Philip CE, Faysal H, Quinney SK, Sadovsky Y, Haas DM.

Biopreservation and Biobanking. 2026.

We conducted a descriptive review of protocols and standard operating procedures from major United States and international maternal–infant biobanks to assess harmonization of pre-analytical handling across specimen types. Despite some residual variability, core processing principles—collection timing, temperature control, centrifugation, aliquoting, and long-term storage—were highly consistent, indicating that meaningful harmonization is already largely in place. These findings suggest that barriers to cross-biobank collaboration lie more in metadata capture and data integration than in laboratory procedures, making existing biospecimen resources readily usable for collaborative research.

Philip CE, Faysal H, Quinney SK, Feng S, Haas DM.

BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. 2026;133(7):1505-1506.

Predicting early-onset pre-eclampsia depends on biospecimens collected early in gestation, which are typically dispersed across many independent biobanks and difficult to locate. This correspondence shows how a centralised, searchable repository can identify early-gestation maternal samples across biobanks and link them to clinical metadata, enabling investigators to assemble adequately powered cohorts without duplicate collection. Centralised biospecimen identification is presented as a practical step toward collaborative, biomarker-driven prediction of early-onset pre-eclampsia.

Faysal H, Quinney SK, Haas DM.

American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MFM. 2024;6(3):101304.

Biomarker research in pregnancy and pediatrics is hampered by fragmented access to biospecimens held across many separate biobanks with differing catalogues and metadata. The Collaborative Online Perinatal & Pediatric Repository (COPPER) project addresses this gap with a centralised, searchable database that aggregates information on biobanks and their specimens—including blood, cord blood, urine, placental tissue, breast milk, and DNA/genomic data—filterable by specimen, participant, and collection attributes. By improving discoverability of existing resources, COPPER aims to facilitate global collaborations, reduce redundant collection, and accelerate maternal–pediatric biomarker research.