Biobanking Research Group

Olesya Melnik, MD, PhD
Head of Group

History

The Biobanking Research Group was established in 2012. The Biobank is an essential research infrastructure crucially important for the development of personalized and translational medicine.

Development of personalized and translational medicine is a priority for Almazov Centre and an integral part of the development strategy for Russian science as a whole. The development of translational medicine helps transfer the results of basic research (mainly in the field of cell and molecular biology, genetics and biochemistry) into clinical practice, making this area especially promising and important.

The Biobanking Research Group adheres to the international guidelines of the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws , regulations of the Russian Health Ministry, Ethics Committee and the Rules of Almazov Centre.

The Biobank collects a wide variety of more than 50,000 biosamples both from adult and pediatric cohorts of patients.

Supported by an extensive clinical infrastructure of Almazov Centre, the Biobank has collections of biosamples from patients with cardiovascular, hematological, endocrine, obstetric and gynecological disorders, isolated and combined congenital malformations, biosamples from patients with neuromuscular diseases involving the heart muscle, from patients with rare genetic syndromes, including material from first-line relatives (if sampling is possible). Beyond that, the Biobank has a collection of biological samples of the ESSE-RF project (Epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases in different regions of Russia) as well as unique samples received from the Siege of Leningrad survivors.

Objectives

• Sample preparation, aliquoting and responsible storage of samples of various biological material at the required temperature as well as the related clinical and demographic information.
• Creating the collections of biological samples from patients with various diseases including the material from first-line relatives (if sampling is possible).
• Culturing primary cell lines, isolating mononuclear cells from human bone marrow and peripheral blood, obtaining buffy coat as well as DNA genotyping.
• Storing the collections of human biological material (whole blood and its derivatives, DNA, mononuclear cells of bone marrow and peripheral blood, buffy coats, tissues, primary cell lines) obtained as part of the research projects.

The Biobanking research Group is a member of the National Association of Biobanks and Biobanking Professionals. The entire biological material of the Group is available both for experimental work as part of research projects at Almazov Centre and for submission to research facilities such as biomedical research institutes, pharmacological and biotechnological companies, for the development of translational medicine .

International collaboration

Collaborative research project with the University of Milan “In-depth examination of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia with genetic testing, assessment of traditional and new markers of subclinical atherosclerosis.”

In 2020, the Biobank Core Facility was established at the Biobanking Research Group.