The issues raised by research biobanking in its modern form can be divided into four main clusters: how biological materials are entered into the bank; under what conditions researchers can access materials in the bank, and problems concerning ownership of biological materials and of intellectual property arising from such materials;

Preface.- Contents.- Introduction.- Part I Research biobanking: The traditional approach.- Consent to biobank research: one size fits all?- What No One Knows Can't Hurt you: The limits of informed consent in the emerging world of Biobanking.- Users and uses of the biopolitics of consent: a study of DNA banks.- Information rights on the edge of ignorance.- The Dubious Uniqueness of Genetic Information.- Duties and rights of biobank participants: Principled autonomy, consent, voluntariness and privacy.- Biobanking and Disclosure of Research Results: Addressing the tension between professional boundaries and moral intuition.- Biobanks and our common good.- Trust, Distrust and Co-Production: The Relationship between Research Biobanks and Donors.- Scientific citizenship, benefit, and protection in population based research.- Part II Research biobanking: towards a new conceptual approach.- Mapping the language of research biobanking: an analogical approach.- The use of analogical reasoning in umbilical cord blood biobanking.- The Alexandria Plan: Creating Libraries for Human Tissue Research and Therapeutic Use.- The Art of Biocollections.- The Health Dugnad: Biobank participation as the solidarity pursuit of the common good.- Embodied gifting: Reflections on the role of information in biobank recruitment.- Conscription to biobank research?- Ownership rights in research biobanks: Do we need a new kind of 'biological property'?- Legal challenges and strategies in the regulation of research biobanking.- Annexation of life: The biopolitics of industrial biology.- In the ruins of Babel: Should biobank regulations be harmonized?

From the reviews:"This book is composed of articles that reflect an interdisciplinary and transnational approach to the issues surrounding research biobanking. ... The editors intend the book for professionals and regulators involved in research as well as academics and the general public. ... The two-part structure ... provides valuable information to readers at all levels of prior exposure to the issue of biobanking." (Kelly K. Dineen, Doody's Review Service, December, 2009)"Biobanks, defined as collections of biological materials or samples, exist on every continent of the globe. ... book's stated goal is to 'explore some of the legal, ethical, and social issues and challenges raised by research biobanking,' and it claims to be aimed at a wide audience, ranging from biobank researchers, health law experts, and philosophers to health and research regulators, politicians, and the general public. ... this book is recommended as a textbook or as reference material for a course in comparative biobanking policy." (Rogelio A. Lasso, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304 (8), 2010)