Olga Kofanova, PhD in Cryobiology, currently works at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg (IBBL) as the Leader of IBBL unit ‘Production Quality & Proficiency Team’. As an accredited and certified biobank, IBBL operates under a strict quality management system and Olga plays a key role in implementing and improving the quality management system in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 17025:2017. She is a national delegate in standardisation and a member of the technical standards committees at the Luxembourg Institute of Standardisation, Accreditation, Safety and Quality of Products and Services (ILNAS). Olga also manages projects at IBBL with her major scientific interest being focused on the impact of pre-analytical variables on biospecimen sample quality in order to develop evidence-based standards for use of human biospecimens in research. This involves biospecimen collection, processing, and storage method optimization, including aspects of sample identification and the development of novel quality control tools and assays for biorepositories. Since 2011, Olga has been actively involved in the developing of IBBL Biospecimen Proficiency Testing (PT) Program. As the Coordinator of the PT program since 2020, Olga plays a key role in implementing new Biospecimen Proficiency Testing schemes and ensures the PT operations to be compliant with the principles of ISO 17043:2010 (Proficiency Testing).
