The Biological resource Centers (BRCs) are an essential part of the biotechnology infrastructure. These centers are providers of services and repositories of living cells, genomes of organisms, and associated information, offering authenticated biological material.
The BRCs must meet the high standards of quality and expertise demanded by the national and international community of scientists and industry. They consist of collections of culturable organisms (micro-organisms and plant, animal and human cells), replicable parts of these, as well as databases containing molecular, physiological and structural information associated with these collections.
Since 2005, Fiocruz has been dedicating efforts to lead the health field in the Brazilian BRC Network (BRC-Br Network) and to structure the Biological Resource Center in Health, consisting a culture collection of pathogenic microorganisms, mainly related to tropical diseases or with biotechnological potential in health, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, cDNA/RNA and Certified Reference Material. At the same time, Fiocruz has actively participated in the construction of the BRC-Br Network, leading the health sector.
The objectives of the Health-BRC at Fiocruz are based on:
- To contribute to and support research, technological development, and innovation, offering certified products and services to the scientific community and to the Unified Health System (SUS);
- To provide high-quality services and products for the development of diagnostics, vaccines and medicines in accordance with international biosafety, biosecurity, quality and legal requirements.
- To strengthen the Health Economic-Industrial Complex (HEIC), aiming at reducing Brazil's international dependence.
- To preserve and provide access to representatives of microbial diversity.
Some initiatives such as support for the Leishmania Collection (CLIOC), the Collection of Bacteria from the Environment and Health (CBEH) and the Collection of Filamentous Fungi Cultures (CFFC) to be accredited by the Inmetro program for BRC and recognized by Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovations as BRC, as well as the creation of a Technical Group focused on the organization of the BRC, were in progress until the pandemic broke out.
Based on the new ISO 20387:2018, the concepts about Biological Resource Center (BRC) and Biobank have been revised. ISO 20387:2018, internalized through ABNT NBR ISO 20387:2020, defines biobank as a legal entity or part of a legal entity that performs the process of acquisitioning and storing, together with some or all the activities related to collection, preparation, preservation, testing, analyzing and distributing defined biological materials, as well as related information and data. In addition, it specifies international requirements for any and all biobank activities and is based on internationally recommended quality, biosafety, and biosecurity standards. This ISO, among other documents, is based on the OECD Best Practice Guidelines for Biological Resource Centers.