MARBiobanc, the Parc de Salut Mar’s biobank, is an establishment that collects biological samples designed for biomedical research purposes. Due to the new coronavirus pandemic, at the beginning of June 2020, it had collected more than 2,000 samples from 623 COVID-19 patients.
From the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) they send us this picture above, which shows the large collection of biological samples that the MARBiobanc houses.
“MARBiobanc pioneered the systematic collection of COVID-19 samples, starting on April 1”
The samples — serum, nasopharyngeal exudates, blood, tissues … — come from patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or with a compatible clinical picture, at different stages of evolution and severity of the disease. Some of the collected samples were transferred for the implementation of massive PCR tests that, once validated, served to increase the number of diagnostic tests in the most aggressive phase of the pandemic.
“We would like to thank all the professionals who have made it possible to set up the collection circuit in such a short time, and to adapt the experimental protocols and our facilities and equipment to a higher level of biosafety“, says Montserrat Torá, director of MARBiobanc.
“Currently, the Spanish Biobank Network has 62,000 COVID-19 samples from 21,000 patients available for research purposes”
The objective of this initiative is for the Spanish Biobank Network to assemble a common catalog of samples of patients who have suffered from COVID-19 in Spain and to make them available to scientific projects on SARS-CoV-2.
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