Biobanks accreditation update

UKAS first announced plans for the accreditation of Biobanks to ISO 20387 in 2019, at which point a pilot development project commenced involving several interested parties.

Applications from these services have been processed and a steering group, comprising biobank experts (including human tissue, crop, fungi and veterinary biobanks) has worked with UKAS to advise on appropriate interpretation and application of ISO 20387 to the different types of biobanks.

The Development Team at UKAS has grown expertise in this area, performing comparisons of ISO 20387 and its requirements to other established standards such as ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 15189, as well as recruiting a pool of experts to join our assessment teams.

The pilot development programme has progressed well, and we anticipate accreditation to ISO 20387 for Biobanks to be granted to several services over the course of 2024.

If you would like any more information about the project, please contact the Development Team.