The Macarena Hospital Biobank node registers 8,583 samples from COVID donors since the pandemic began
This hospital structure, integrated into the SSPA Biobank, currently offers the research community 8,583 bioresources, mainly blood derivatives from 279 donors.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Biobank Node of the Virgen Macarena Hospital has worked with different units of the hospital in the generation of COVID circuits for the collection and conservation of samples related to this pathology.
The main objectives of these circuits have been to centralize the collection of samples for biomedical research through a single extraction for the patient, as well as to guarantee their quality, conservation and traceability. The protocols by which the Biobank is governed for processing and storage in small aliquots allow a single donation to serve the sample needs of a large number of research projects. In these circuits, the samples have been collected in accordance with the SSPA Biobank procedure based on the recommendations and guidelines of the National Biobank Network Guide to guarantee the safety of the personnel and integrity of the samples, complying with the center's biosafety protocols. , and ensuring the traceability of the samples both in transport and in their treatment and subsequent conservation.
COVID circuits have been generated with the Pulmonology, Neurology, Emergency, Infectious Diseases and Nephrology teams collecting different types of samples and associated data. The bioresources currently held by the Biobank correspond to a cohort of donors being followed up after SARS-CoV-2 infection and a strategic cohort of hospitalized patients with active COVID-19 disease at the time of donation and a follow-up at 24 hours, 3 days and 7 days.
Currently, with part of the bioresources obtained through these circuits, requests for 4 funded projects are being met, two regional, one national and one European. Furthermore, last week a specific sample collection circuit associated with a European project with great impact on the most fragile population was launched.
Currently, the Biobank conserves samples from a total of 279 donors, which has generated a total of 8,583 bioresources, part of them directly linked to research projects and part transferred from the Biobank. The circuits currently remain active so the potential for collecting and generating Bioresources continues to increase.
The effort of the collecting units, the generosity of the donors who are participating and the work of the Biobank is rewarded when the bioresources obtained serve to provide the necessary support to research in the search for answers to the numerous questions generated around COVID-19.
The research Biobank of the Virgen Macarena University Hospital is integrated within a provincial structure (Plataforma Sevilla) and a Network Biobank structure at the regional level such as the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia (SSPA). In turn, the SSPA Biobank is part of the National Network of Biobanks that allows expansion at the National level, providing added value to all Spanish Biobanks.
The SSPA Biobank is an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Families. Its objective is to constitute a platform to support research specialized in obtaining, processing and storing human biological samples and their associated data, to make them available to the scientific community, providing public service to meet the needs of researchers.