2023-05-29 13:37:00
The Biological banks, or Biobanks, represent a crucial element in modern biomedical research. Serving as a reservoir of biological samples such as blood, tissue and DNA, these structures provide the key to understanding a wide range of diseases. It is therefore a “treasure that comes from the cold”, that of the various biobanks present in the various Institutes and Research Centers. To make the most of it, the scientific hospitalization and treatment institutes of the cardiology network met at the Irccs Neuromed in Pozzilli (Isernia) to implement a “widespread biobank”, that through the standardization of methods and procedures – reports a note – it will allow for a single system, in which the large mass of samples and data will form an integrated structure at the national level.
“This meeting – he says Maria Benedetta Donati, director of the Neuromed Biobanking Centre and head of the biobank table of the cardiological network – brought together the representatives of all the Italian Irccs that have a cardiological interest. In view of the Irccs’ mission, that of being a bridge between research and clinical care to reduce the time needed for scientific advances to reach patients as soon as possible, the goal is now to create a critical mass by forming a ‘widespread biobank ‘ nationwide. A collaborative approach that will favor the progress of research in such an innovative field as that of biological banks”.
“This network of biobanks, in which Neuromed is a key player – he comments the scientific director of Neuromed, Luigi Frati – represents an important progress promoted by the Ministry of Health. Let’s take a concrete example: if one day a researcher were to discover a new marker for a pathology, then he could retrospectively check the samples stored in the biobanks of the network to verify the validity of his intuition. This is a great merit that Molise and Neuromed have achieved”.
“How to join several wedges to form a big apple”, this is the image of the second network Amalia De Curtis, operational manager of the Neuromed Biobanking Center. “It will allow us to collect a very large number of samples – he underlines – which will be highly reproducible since they are always collected with the same operating procedures. Likewise, the data will be collected and shared using the same methodologies, making the information practically superimposable. This mass of samples and data will be useful for both internal and external projects”. “It is a real ‘harmony’ we are looking for – he adds Rosanna Cardani, of the Irccs San Donato – The ultimate goal is to produce reproducible and reliable results. In addition to the operating procedures, then, the widespread biobank will also harmonize the legal documentation, including the collection of informed consents”.
The concept of storing patient and citizen samples, but also the information on their health that accompanies the samples themselves, is naturally one of the most important issues, at the heart of the design of this network, as explained by thelawyer Giorgia Masina, Data Protection Officer of the Irccs cardiological network: “Privacy – claims the expert – is a legitimate concern in such a large project. We reassure the participants by providing clear information on how the research takes place, what its purposes are and, above all, what security measures we adopt to protect their privacy. It is important to understand that all data used is encrypted and does not contain direct personal information. We work to make people understand the importance of research, to ensure that patients become an active part of this process”.
A crucial role in the project of a widespread Biobank can only be played by computer systems, databases and platforms capable of integrating and protecting the large amount of data available. A point emphasized by‘engineer Andrea Stoppini, of the Bioengineering and Medical Informatics Consortium (Cbim): “Since 2017, CBIM has been collaborating with the cardiological network, made up of 20 institutes distributed throughout Italy, to provide an IT platform that allows researchers to collect and share data from patients enrolled in the various projects”. Data that “represent a significant asset for cardiology research, and which must be protected. For this reason, our platform resides on the Avs cloud, which offers the highest security measures currently available on the market”, he concludes.
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