The medtech space continues to advance at an exhilarating speed, with more advances in health coming out every year. Biobanking, which is a sizable collection of biospecimens that are kept primarily for usage in health and medical research, has taken off in recent years. According to Transparency Market Research, the global biobanking market was valued at $50.1 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to more than $87.4 billion by the end of 2031.

North America accounted for the largest share of the global biobanking market in 2021. The increase in adoption of advanced technologies and rise in awareness about biobanking has allowed the region to thrive and present more opportunities to further benefit human health.

Recently, I sat down with Salvatore Viscomi, the Chief Medical Officer of GoodCell, one of the premiere biobanking organizations in the world. He gave insight on what to expect in the future of biobanking and how GoodCell is paving the way for further innovations that could help save lives from previously incurable conditions.

Salvatore and GoodCell will be at BIOMEDevice Boston  from Sept. 28-29 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. BIOMEDevice Boston brings together top engineers, business leaders, disruptive companies, and innovative thinkers from the Northeast’s top start-ups and medical device OEMs to inspire the next life-changing medical device. Resister here to attend the show.

Adrienne: For those who don’t know who you are, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you fit into the biomedical industry.

Salvatore: I am a practicing physician, researcher, and serial entrepreneur. I currently lead GoodCell’s product line of genetic and biomarker testing, developing a healthcare platform that harnesses the power of blood to both inform and restore health. Previously, I spent 14 years as a member of Harvard Medical School’s faculty and concurrently as a clinician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In that capacity, I held various administrative and clinical roles, including Director of Admissions of a Harvard Residency Program. As an expert in medical imaging, I have published and presented nationally and internationally. I co-founded Brigham NightWatch, the first academic teleradiology network in the world. In addition, I served as an executive and board member of FreMon Scientific where I led the development of a next-generation blood product management solution that was FDA approved and, ultimately, sent to market. I began my path towards medicine while at Columbia University, earning a B.A. in Neuropsychology, completing my residency and specialization at Harvard Medical School. I also serve on the Board of Directors of Make-A-Wish Foundation Massachusetts/Rhode Island. In 2016, I completed the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School.

A: We're so excited to have your support as a prominent speaker at BIOMEDevice Boston. Do you have any exciting news to share from GoodCell?

S: GoodCell, a life sciences company, is a preventive healthcare service that launched earlier this year that allows people to prepare for personalized medicine opportunities by storing their biomaterial through Personal Biobanking for future potential cellular therapies.

This is an exciting time to have the availability of healthy cell storage at your fingertips due to the thousands of cell and gene therapies that are being studied to treat diseases and conditions that may impact millions of Americans. This ranges from neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s to certain cancers to major chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Based on the current clinical trial pipeline, the FDA expects to approve 10-20 new cell and gene therapies annually beginning in 2025.

Furthermore, GoodCell is developing novel genetic testing that evaluates the dynamic genetic changes in our cells, rather than just inherited risks from conventional genetic testing. Measuring specific somatic changes in blood over time can be used to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers as well as inform why some people have abnormal inflammatory responses when infected with COVID-19.

A: What trends do you see coming down the pipeline and how will they be highlighted at this event?

S: I see trends leaning towards patient democratization in the form of personalized dashboards integrating health information. Patients will also be empowered by sophisticated at-home health monitoring replacing traditional hospital care and clinical trials, which would lead to more effective screening and monitoring of disease. Finally, I think data integration from multiple sources will allow for the creation of digital twin models for predicting certain health risks and informing the development of therapeutics.

A: What are you looking forward to the most at BIOMEDevice Boston this month?

S: I’m looking forward to seeing novel devices and software solutions tackling chronic diseases that have been so challenging to manage effectively in the past. Specifically, innovative tools that capture physiologic and biologic data to better enable remote patient monitoring, whether for hospital at-home care or decentralized clinical trials.