Annual Scientific Report

INTRODUCTION
IDIBAPS Platforms
Biobank of Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS
www.clinicbiobanc.org
The Biobank is a centralised institutional support platform for coordinating the collection, processing, storage and transfer of
biological samples to promote biomedical research of the highest standard.
When it was first set up, the Biobank had a dual mission:
• To provide the scientific community with standard, well characterised biological samples with high added value, in order to
promote, foster and develop biomedical research in accordance with current legislation.
• To standardise all the Institute’s research sample collections (in accordance with article 67 of Law 14/2007, relating to Biomedical
Research Act).
The bank’s catalogue of samples is divided into three broad categories which are available for scientific purposes for the consolidation
of personalized medicine:
1) Neurological Tissue Biobank
A nervous tissue repository (brain and spinal cord) created from donations from cadavers with or without neurological conditions,
helping to facilitate research into neurological illnesses in order to improve diagnoses and enhance patient assistance.
2) Tumour Biobank and Anatomical Pathologies Collections
A Repository of tumorous tissue and samples from cancer patients. This biobank also manages an extensive collection of
other disease-related tissue provided by the Department of Anatomical Pathology at the Hospital Clínic from excess samples
used in their diagnoses. This material is essential to providing current large-scale tissue research projects with the samples
they require.
3) Blood and Fluid Biobank
This repository contains samples of metabolic, inflammatory bowel, hepatic, digestive and maternal and foetal diseases,
among others. It houses a large range of samples of scientific interest, primarily DNA, serum and plasma, which are provided
by doctors’ surgeries and laboratories where blood and fluid are taken for lab tests and blood and fluid donation.
Services
The Biobank of Hospital Clínic – IDIBAPS offers a wide range of samples and services. The scientific community may make
full use of the bank’s equipment and professional staff to achieve their most ambitious goals. The work of the biobank
goes beyond simply providing samples; they offer support to researchers during the various stages of projects requiring the
use of biological samples.
Sample providing
• Nerve tissue from cadaveric donors affected by neurologic diseases
• Frozen biological samples and paraffin-embedded tissue blocks representing the most common tumours
• DNA, serum, plasma and PBMCs from different diseases as well as from control donors
Technical and scientific advice
• Creation and management of new collections
• Methodology (technical guidance)
• Experimental design with human and animal tissue samples
• Design and interpretation of immunohistochemical studies
• Quality management programmes
• Harmonization of quality procedures for the handling of DNA samples
• Technical assessment for the manipulation of the Biobank equipment (microdissector and morphometre)
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