The most common sample type donated to the Indiana Biobank is a blood sample. These blood samples are collected during blood draws that occur as a routine part of a donor's clinical care. ​During these blood draw, an extra tube of blood will be taken for the biobank along with the tubes of blood needed for a donor's clinical care. This sample collection happens only once; donor's do not provide a biobank sample each time they have a blood draw.​​​

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In some uncommon cases, donors might be approached to provide additional biological samples to the biobank. These additional samples could include other bodily fluids, such as urine, or could include other blood products, such as plasma. 

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Once a sample has been collected for the biobank, it will be delivered via a medical courier to one of the biobank's sample storage facilities on the Indiana University-Indianapolis campus. At these facilities, the donor's sample will be divided up into smaller portions, called aliquots.

 

In the case of a tube of blood, the samples will divided into smaller tubes. Each tube will be assigned an identification number so that the biobank staff will be able to know which samples came from which donor. 

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After samples have been divided up and labelled, they are placed either in liquid nitrogen storage or a medical-grade electronic freezer. All storage equipment is monitored by three alarm systems and an emergency power back-up system. Under these conditions, samples can be preserved for research that occurs many years, even decades, into the future.