In Poland storage of human biological samples takes place at most universities and scientific institutions conducting research projects in the field of biomedicine. The First International Biobanking Conference organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in 2014 shed a light on the situation of Polish biobanking infrastructures. The country has around 40 large biorepositories, which store unique biological material such as whole brains, muscle fibers from patients with rare diseases, as well as thousands of samples from patients with lifestyle diseases. There are only two population-based biobanks working locally and several disease-oriented biobanks specializing mainly in oncological diseases. Consortium BBMRI.pl created plans for establishing a Polish Network of Biobanks, with national node which meets standards for biobanks and cooperation to guarantee development of biomedical sciences and international collaboration between Poland and other countries. The Polish network will enhance research activities, due to better visibility of samples and data that are stored in the national biobanking catalogue. However, it requires more than a comprehensive understanding of all benefits. The list of examples of benefits can be presented as follows: (i) a reduction of the duration and cost of clinical trials and subsequent time to market for anticancer drugs; (ii) more precise patient diagnosis and the associated impact on treatment and lower healthcare costs for providers, individuals, and the nation; (iii) improvements in research experiment time frames and data efficiencies; (iv) convergence to an industry standards for biospecimen quality; (v) optimization of capital infrastructure and IT technology.

Many types of biomedical research projects depend on high-quality biological material with a data set attached. The Quality Management System (QMS) is focused on operational standards for all organizational activities to ensure that the described quality of each procedure, product, or service is guaranteed. The implementation of the QMS is necessary for the provision of both high quality and repeatability of processes in research laboratories. The current status of implementation of the QMS is determined according to the ''Organisation of Polish Biobanking Network'' within the project ''Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure BBMRI-ERIC'' supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education-decision number DIR/WK/2017/01. According to the above, preliminary audits in six Polish institutions were conducted and reports with recommendations concerning the implementation and improvement of the QMS in Polish biobanks were prepared. During all audits, 13 QMS main areas were analyzed. All audited units belong to the BBMRI.pl consortium, which is responsible for the creation of the Polish Biobanking Network within the BBMRI-ERIC structure. Among all 13 analyzed areas, 27 deviations were identified. Eleven of them were implemented in all audited biobanks but defined as the areas for improvement, 16 of them were not implemented correctly or not implemented at all, respectively (areas underlined to corrective procedures).

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Bacteria of the genus Proteus of the family Enterobacteriaceae are facultative human pathogens responsible mainly for urinary tract and wound infections, bacteremia and the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We have analyzed and compared by ELISA the titer of antibodies in plasmas of healthy individuals and in sera of rheumatoid arthritis patients recognizing a potential host cross-reactive epitope (lysine-galacturonic acid epitopes) present in Proteus lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In our experiments LPSs isolated from two mutants of smooth Proteus mirabilis 1959 (O3), i.e. strains R110 and R45, were used. R110 (Ra type mutant) is lacking the O-specific polysaccharide, but possesses a complete core oligosaccharide, while R45 (Re type) has a reduced core oligosaccharide and contains two 3-deoxy-d-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid residues and one of 4-amino-4-deoxy-l-arabinopyranose residues. Titer of P. mirabilis S1959 LPS-specific-antibodies increased with the age of blood donors. RA and blood donors’ sera contained antibodies against S and Ra and Re type of P. mirabilis O3 LPSs. Antibodies recognizing lysine-galacturonic acid epitopes of O3 LPS were detected by ELISA in some plasmas of healthy individuals and sera of rheumatoid arthritis patients. RA patients antibodies reacting with P. mirabilis S1959 S and R LPSs may indicate a potential role of anti-LPS antibodies in molecular mimicry in RA diseases.