The International Embryo Technology Society (IETS) established the Companion Animal, Non-domestic and Endangered Species (CANDES) Committee in 2001. In 2014, the CANDES committee underwent reorganisation, resulting in the creation of a new sub-committee on Biobanking that prompted the organisation of the pre-conference symposium, ‘Biomaterials Repositories: The Science and Business of Biobanking’, which is the subject of this Research Front. The symposium was held before the 2016 Annual Meeting of the IETS held in Louisville, Kentucky and the goal was to develop a program that addressed some of the numerous factors influencing the development, maintenance and use of biobanks.