International standards experts convene in Seoul

From 7 to 13 May, the working groups and the plenary of the ISO Technical Committee 276 Biotechnology (ISO/TC) met in Seoul, South Korea. Participants discussed the latest standards proposals in the Working Groups “Terminology” (WG 1), “Biobanks and bioresources” (WG 2), “Analytical methods” (WG 3), “Bioprocessing” (WG 4) and “Data processing and integration” (WG 5). BIO Deutschland’s experts took part primarily in WGs 1, 3 and 4. WG 1 mainly exchanged views on an inventory of terms relevant to the ISO/TC, which is designed provide a common understanding for the standardisation work. WG 3 discussed current standardisation projects dealing with:

  • Requirements for experimental design and statistical analysis to quantify cell counting methods and
  • General definitions and requirements for the quality control of oligonucleotides

WG 3 also presented three new projects:

  • Guidelines for evaluating the performance of targeted nucleic acid quantification methods (qPCR and dPCR)
  • General definitions and requirements for the production and quality control of synthetic gene fragments, genes and genomes
  • General requirements for massive parallel sequencing (upstream processes and methods for evaluating the quality of sequence data) 

Members of WG 4 examined the draft on “Raw materials control for bioprocessing (Parts 1–3)” and presented ideas for the standardisation of methods to control bioreactor processes and for general requirements for the transport of cells.

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