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2	A brief word on The International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories
3	ISBER’s Founders Elaine Gunter Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Jim Vaught, Roger Aamodt National Institutes of Health (NIH) Frank Simione American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) William Grizzle Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) Mark Sobel American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP)
4	ISBER Governance Current President: Marianna Bledsoe (NIH) President-elect: Robert Hewitt (Singapore) Past-President: Frank Simione (ATCC) Executive Council: 8 members (3 non-US). US and non-US members on the following committees: Marketing, Program, Education and Training, and Strategic Planning. Strategic Planning Committee: Increased collaboration with similar organizations (P3G, OECD, BBMRI, WFCC, and SPNHC). A key part of ISBER’s mission is a reinforced commitment to domestic and international growth.
5	ISBER’s Role To provide a forum on biorepository (a.k.a Biobank) issues and to hold meetings for: Repository Managers, Pathologists, Scientific Researchers. People who service the biobanking industry (Vendors). To encourage communication and intellectual sharing between… Biorepositories for medical research and environmental specimen banks. (>139) Scientific Researchers and Manufacturers from around the world To promote best practices in biobanking through: Training Standards
6	Interests of Biobanking Societies
7	Countries Represented at 2007 Meeting
8	What Does ISBER Have to Offer? Meetings that bring you the latest technical updates from leaders in the biobanking field. The opportunity to meet people involved in a wide spectrum of biobanking activities from countries all over the world. An established network of people with a vested interest in biobanking, who provide a continuing source of support and collaboration. Technical support through collaboration with members, affiliated organizations and: -Journal of Cell Preservation Technology -ISBER Best Practices for Repositories
9	Annual Meeting in 2008 May 18-21^st in Bethesda, MD, USA Speakers include: Francis Collins, Tricia Hartge, Gordon Frampton, Yeonhee Lee, Kurt Zatloukal, Juncai Ma, Ole Seburg, Samir Khleif, Joe Kessler, Anil Prasad,David Newman,Elisa Eiseman, Barbara O’Brien, Scott Jewell, John Gillespie. There are a total of 44 vendor booth slots and ~17 are still available. For more meeting information, go to http://www.isber.org/
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