Artificial Intelligence in Biobanking

“This impressive collection offers a fresh approach to the complex issues surrounding the use of AI in the field of biobanking. I highly recommend this book for the scope and quality of its contributions and the expertise of its authors. The authors are leaders in their field and offer insights that are useful not only for biobanking but also for other areas of biomedical research. This collection provides a clear, innovative and analytical presentation of these issues that no other book has done before.”— Jane Kaye, Professor of Health, Law and Policy & Director of the Centre for Health Law and Emerging Technologies, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford and Academic Convenor AI and Research, University of Melbourne

“Biobanks – collections of biological materials and data – have long been recognized for their potential in research on diseases, treatments and prevention methods, and in healthcare more generally. With recent developments in AI and big data analytics, an even greater potential is being unleashed. Yet at the same time, various pressing ethical, legal, and social issues arise. Michaela Th. Mayrhofer, Santa Slokenberga and Signe Mežinska have curated an excellent set of papers that tackle these crucial issues head on. A must-read for anybody interested in AI, big data, and biobanking!”— Sven Nyholm, Professor of the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

“Artificial intelligence is like the Wild West right now, so books like Artificial Intelligence in Biobanking: Ethical, Legal and Societal Challenges are vital for understanding how to develop and deploy new technologies in a responsible, legal, ethical, and socially beneficial manner. The contributors address a range of important issues to do with the use of AI in biobanking, highlighting the importance of not treating AI as a mysterious black box we cannot shape in democratic and responsible ways.”— Kean Birch, Professor & Ontario Research Chair in Science Policy, York University, Cana

Michaela Th. Mayrhofer is a political scientist, historian and sociologist specializing in the governance of life sciences. She is lead of ELSI at the Medical University of Innsbruck, Institute of Human Genetics, Austria. Michaela has served as Head of ELSI Services & Research Department (2019–2025) and Co-Interim Director General (2020) at BBMRI-ERIC, Austria. She is a Review Editor for Frontiers in Digital Health, as well as an independent ethics advisor to several consortia and organisations and research ethics expert for the European Commission.

Santa Slokenberga is an associate professor in medical law and a senior lecturer in administrative law at the Faculty of Law, Uppsala University, Sweden. She is a Board Member of the Nordic Permed Law Network and a Board Member of the European Association of Heath Law, as well as an independent ethics advisor to several consortia and organisations.

Signe Mežinska is a bioethicist and sociologist specializing in biomedical research ethics and medical ethics. She leads a research group at the University of Latvia, focusing on ethical challenges in the development and application of biotechnologies and the protection of patients’ and research participants’ rights. Signe has served as an ethics expert for international organizations, including UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee, WHO, and the European Commission.