DIN/ISO biotechnology mirror committee holds web conference

In early March, the national mirror committee (DIN) of ISO Technical Committee 276 Biotechnology (ISO/TC) held a web conference. The leaders of the Task Groups “Terms and Definitions”, “Biobanks”, “Analytical Methods”, “Bioprocessing” and “Data Processing and Integration” reported on the national standardisation activities. The Task Group “Terms and Definitions” is continuing work on the development of a compendium that gathers different interpretations of terms relevant to biotech (see report in the February Newsletter). The Task Group “Biobanks” has circulated and commented on a new manuscript for the project “Biotechnology – Biobanking – General requirements for biobanks”. The project team is conducting a preliminary evaluation of the comments, which will also be discussed at the task group’s May meeting in Washington, D.C. The objective is to develop a standard for competence assessment (accreditation). The Task Group “Analytical Methods” is preparing a three-part series on cell characterisation. The Task Group “Bioprocessing” is monitoring the three-part project “Biotechnology – Ancillary materials present during the production of cells for therapeutic use”, which is being pushed forward by the corresponding international task group. As there are no national issues to deal with at the moment, the task group has been temporarily put in abeyance. The Task Group “Data Processing and Integration” is working on the project “Genome compression standardisation” in collaboration with the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11 (the so-called MPEG consortium). The experts in this task group are also dealing with a proposal for “Minimal requirements for downstream data processing and integration workflows for interfacing and linking heterogeneous data, models and corresponding metadata”.

In addition, conference participants discussed preparations for the next task group meetings as well as the next international plenary meeting, which will also be held in Washington, D.C.