Biobanc Clinic

The progress made in knowledge of the causes of diseases, the prediction of the course of chronic pathologies and of the therapeutic response are the foundation for continuing improvement of European people’s health and for providing personalised care appropriate for the needs and expectations of each individual. Current biomedical research requires new resources which include the use and handling of big data obtained from biological samples. The Biobank provides unique solutions for researching and documenting inter-individual diversity.

The CIBEREHD has created a platform which collects, stores and distributes biological samples connected with digestive diseases, which is supported by IDIBAPS Biobank infrastructure. This system incorporates an adaptive data model, and has developed processes for proper treatment of intellectual property, strategic aspects, services and maintenance.

The main objectives of the platform are:

To provide the scientific community with standardised properly characterised biological samples of patients with digestive diseases with high added value, for promoting the development of biomedical research in accordance with current norms.
To obtain collections of a considerable volume of digestive pathologies and/or phenotypes of great interest for research
To distribute samples for promotion and development of collaborative studies between CIBEREHD centres, and between these centres and other participants in accordance with current legislation.
To facilitate technical support for researchers interested in the Biobank, including standards for annotation of samples, designation and procedures, tools for harmonising collections, information technology, support for tracing samples, associated data and adaptation to current regulatory standards.

To attain these objectives the platform has the following equipment:

-20ºC, -80ºC and -150ºC freezers with security systems
Programmable freezers with controlled freezing ramps
Chemagic MSM1 Robot for extraction of DNA in large volumes of samples
Automated Tecan EVI 150 station for aliquoting the samples
Coulter Z1 particle counter
Sterile chambers for cell insulation
Cell immortalisation platform
Information technology for handling samples and associated data.

CIBEREHD researchers currently use this platform in studies on genetic determinants and predictors in liver and digestive diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, cholestatic diseases, vascular liver diseases (Budd-Chiari syndrome, portal vein thrombosis, idiopathic portal vein hypertension). Apart from these studies got under way by researchers, the samples of the CIBEREHD-IDIBAPS Biobank have been used in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry, specifically in two studies which evaluate diagnostic tools for colorectal cancer.

Biobank Clinic