More And Better
IMM-BioBank – A Biological Sample Bank for Clinical Biomedical Research in Portugal
A biobank is being set up in the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) that is intended to support clinical biomedical research in Portugal. The IMM-BioBank has already been approved by the Santa Maria Hospital Ethics Committee, operates in premises granted to it by the FMUL, and has the financial support of the High Commissariat for Health. The main aim of the biobank is to serve as a support element for studies in molecular, clinical and epidemiological research into diseases that affect the populations, such as, for example, neurodegenerative, oncological and rheumatic diseases. The intention is to create an infrastructure that reinforces the connections between basic and clinical research, aimed at the promoting of prevention, diagnosis and therapeutics of several diseases, thus leading to the promoting of public health.
The IMM-BioBank samples are taken by doctors from the most varying areas and then preserved cryogenically, and may be blood, plasma, urine, cephalo-rachidian liquid, bone or other types of human tissue. The collecting, processing and storing of the samples is carried out according to the Portuguese ethical and legal norms and the norms established by the 2003 UNESCO International Declaration on Human Data. Once entering the IMM-BioBank collection, the samples are added to a database which contains information relating to clinical and family data about individuals who have agreed to participate in the project, under strict controls of data protection. The samples remain available, upon due authorization, to any research entity that may request them from the IMM-BioBank.
The IMM-BioBank now includes hundreds of samples in its collection, such as, for example, samples taken in many different medical centres in Portugal involving rheumatic diseases, through the protocol agreement between the Portuguese Rheumatology Society and the IMM, including blood samples, DNA, bone and liquids and synovial membranes.
“The IMM BioBank is an important step towards improving the organisation and the systematising of medical data and biological material that are often not taken advantage of”, explains Tiago Outeiro, director of the Biobank and IMM researcher. “The samples are taken from people with diseases that we wish to study, as well as from other, healthy, people in order to make comparisons. The database includes the clinical and biological information, thus allowing a greater interaction between basic/molecular research and clinical research, which is essential to the progress of knowledge in any field of medicine”, adds Outeiro.
Cheila Almeida
Marta Agostinho (marta-elisa@fm.ul.pt)
Communication and Training Unit
Institute of Molecular Medicine
http://www.imm.ul.pt
The IMM-BioBank samples are taken by doctors from the most varying areas and then preserved cryogenically, and may be blood, plasma, urine, cephalo-rachidian liquid, bone or other types of human tissue. The collecting, processing and storing of the samples is carried out according to the Portuguese ethical and legal norms and the norms established by the 2003 UNESCO International Declaration on Human Data. Once entering the IMM-BioBank collection, the samples are added to a database which contains information relating to clinical and family data about individuals who have agreed to participate in the project, under strict controls of data protection. The samples remain available, upon due authorization, to any research entity that may request them from the IMM-BioBank.
The IMM-BioBank now includes hundreds of samples in its collection, such as, for example, samples taken in many different medical centres in Portugal involving rheumatic diseases, through the protocol agreement between the Portuguese Rheumatology Society and the IMM, including blood samples, DNA, bone and liquids and synovial membranes.
“The IMM BioBank is an important step towards improving the organisation and the systematising of medical data and biological material that are often not taken advantage of”, explains Tiago Outeiro, director of the Biobank and IMM researcher. “The samples are taken from people with diseases that we wish to study, as well as from other, healthy, people in order to make comparisons. The database includes the clinical and biological information, thus allowing a greater interaction between basic/molecular research and clinical research, which is essential to the progress of knowledge in any field of medicine”, adds Outeiro.
Cheila Almeida
Marta Agostinho (marta-elisa@fm.ul.pt)
Communication and Training Unit
Institute of Molecular Medicine
http://www.imm.ul.pt