The Indiana University Institutional Review Board (IRB) has recommended the Indiana Biobank serve as the centralized collection and storage repository for all COVID-19 related sample banking taking place at IU Health, Eskenazi and IU School of Medicine.
The Indiana Biobank has a broad protocol that links samples to the participants’ electronic medical records. The Indiana Biobank protocol allows for the collection of blood, urine and other specimen types and can be used to support researchers studying a broad range of health related outcomes, including COVID-19. For this reason, the Indiana Biobank is working with researchers and clinicians across campus to bank specimens now from COVID-19 positive and negative individuals.
“The collection of samples for future research is a key institutional priority and will support many future research questions including the development of diagnostic tests and future COVID-19 treatments,” said Samir Gupta, MD, Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Medicine at IU School of Medicine.
The Indiana Biobank infrastructure includes a kit production core that can provide sample collection kits for a wide range of sample types as well as a rapid processing lab and storage services. So far, the Indiana Biobank has already collected blood samples from pediatric patients who have been treated for COVID-19 at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health.
“Blood has been the most discussed sample researchers are interested in collecting and storing at the moment, but we are also fielding calls about urine, said Tatiana Foroud, PhD, chair of the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics at IU School of Medicine.
Centralized receiving, processing, storing and distribution of samples, are some of the services the Indiana Biobank provides, in addition to database and IT support. The Indiana Biobank has a review process in place for researchers requesting samples. A special committee has been formed to consider COVID-19 related requests. For more information please contact Indiana Biobank Program Manager, Brooke Patz, at bpatz@iu.edu.
