Biobanks in Oral Health: Promises and Implications of Post-Neoliberal Science and Innovation

Abstract

While biobanks are established explicitly as scientific infrastructures, they are de facto political-economic ones too. Many biobanks, particularly population-based biobanks, are framed under the rubric of the bio-economy as national political-economic assets that benefit domestic business, while national populations are framed as a natural resource whose genomics, proteomics, and related biological material and national health data can be exploited. We outline how many biobanks epitomize this 'neoliberal' form of science and innovation in which research is driven by market priorities (e.g., profit, shareholder value) underpinned by state or government policies. As both scientific and political-economic infrastructures, biobanks end up entangled in an array of problems associated with market-driven science and innovation. These include: profit trumping other considerations; rentiership trumping entrepreneurship; and applied research trumping basic research. As a result, there has been a push behind new forms of 'post-neoliberal' science and innovation strategies based on principles of openness and collaboration, especially in relation to biobanks. The proliferation of biobanks and the putative transition in both scientific practice and political economy from neoliberalism to post-neoliberalism demands fresh social scientific analyses, particularly as biobanks become further established in fields such as oral health and personalized dentistry. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first analysis of biobanks with a view to what we can anticipate from biobanks and distributed post-genomics global science in the current era of oral health biomarkers.

Biobank sustainability: current status and future prospects

“…[28][29][30][31] Aside from the legal and theoretical aspects of this question, claiming intellectual property rights requires that the biobank is not only a supplier of biological resources but also participates in downstream research and development activity. In addition, despite their ability to generate returns, patents do not necessarily generate predictable revenues, with both the precise moment and amount of returns difficult to anticipate.…”

“…39 In other words, it was argued that the biobanking community must accept market-driven priorities, such as profit, patents/ licenses, sustainability, and the favoring of translational research, aiming to bring products and therapies quickly to market. 31,33 Biobanks, however, can hardly fit this scheme, because they do not generate profits. They will thus not become sustainable without public support or self-sustaining without acquiring new roles.…”

Participants’ Decision to Enroll in Cohort Studies with Biobanks: Quantitative Insights from Two German Studies

“…It is also important to note that we did not investigate the broader context of the decision to participate. As presented elsewhere [41], the post-neoliberal context of scientific research could have played a role in the participants' decision to enroll in the studies but we did not gather data about this dimension in our study.…”

Obtaining human teeth for dental education: A cross‐sectional study to create ethical and transparent processes

“…However, there are other important biobanks that contain dental collections, saliva, and other oral tissues linked to research and stem cell storage. [25][26][27] This study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the collection of extracted human teeth, ethical practices during their acquisition, tooth donations, and general perceptions of an HTB across three populations: practicing dentists, current dental students, and the general public. The results of the study may be used to determine whether new ethical processes in obtaining human teeth are needed and whether these populations are amenable to the creation of an HTB.…”