BIOBANK OF THE SAN CECILIO CLINICAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Location

The Biobank Unit of the Public Health System of Andalusia (SSPA) at San Cecilio University Hospital is located in the city of Granada. The unit can be found on the first floor of the hospital, where it shares space with the Clinical Management Unit (UGC) of Pathological Anatomy and with the UGC of Clinical Laboratories.

Being integrated into the UGC of Pathological Anatomy allows the unit to share infrastructure facilities with the hospital and increase its support to the research community. The unit achieves this by promoting rapid response times facilitated by direct and face-to-face communication with professionals specialized in various fields, offering access to a wide range of samples or data (under the protection of current biomedical legislation), and enabling the adjustment of rates to the benefit of the researcher.

This Biobank Unit was previously part of the Network of Tumour Banks of Andalusia. Since January 2013, it has been a unit of the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia.

Infrastructure

The Biobank Unit at San Cecilio University Hospital has an area for the preservation and conservation of biological samples and an office space for the entry, registration, and processing of samples.

Professional staff

Currently, the unit employs two full-time professionals for the unit’s activities in the collection, transformation, storage, and registration of samples. Two professionals are dedicated to the coordination, quality control, and documentation of the Granada provincial unit, which is work that is shared with the other units of Granada. There is also a Scientific Director of the Provincial Unit of Granada.

Activities

The Biobank Unit at San Cecilio Clinical University Hospital offers scientific advice to researchers and manages research projects related to different pathologies. In addition, the unit participates in networked projects in which different units of the Biobank participate, including the transfer of bioresources. The unit also distributes bioresources of different types (serum, plasma, and tissues, for example) with their associated clinical data, in accordance with prevailing legislation. The San Cecilio University Hospital Biobank Unit participates in different cooperative research networks, including stable networks and other consortia formed to respond to specific objectives of biomedical research projects.

Collections

In addition to its active sample collection programs, the San Cecilio Clinical University Hospital Biobank Unit has a total of 33 collections that have been integrated from 2013 to the present. These collections consist of diverse pathologies, including infectious, digestive, endocrine, and cancer diseases, and even mental health and population studies.

Dissemination of information

The dissemination of scientific information is an activity that is performed by the Biobank Unit at San Cecilio Clinical University Hospital. In recent years, the unit has participated in information dissemination events such as the European Researchers' Night, and Coffee with Science. The unit has provided scientific talks to several educational centres in the province to inform young people of aspects related to bio-research. The unit has conducted several clinical sessions focused on providing advice and support at a technical and scientific level to healthcare professionals. One of the objectives of the SSPA Biobank is to make its scientific field and research activities known to the general public. Consequently, we consider our participation in such informative activities particularly important.

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