Biobank Core Facility

Olesya Melnik, MD, PhD
Head of Biobanking Research Group

The Biobank Core Facility was established and registered in 2020.

Main activities

The Biobank Core Facility actively contributes to research projects by ensuring collection, preparation and responsible storage of biological samples as well as the related clinical and demographic information.

The Biobank Core Facility operates at the intersection of research, clinical, educational, ethical and socially useful interests. In its activities, it 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.

Biobank collection

The Biobank collects a wide variety of more than 50,000 biological samples both from adult and pediatric cohorts of patients. Biological samples include various biological fluids (serum, plasma, whole blood, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid), nucleic acids, peripheral blood mononuclear cells, bone marrow, tissues, primary cell cultures.

Supported by an extensive clinical infrastructure of Almazov Centre, the Biobank has collections of biological samples from patients with cardiovascular, hematological, endocrine, obstetric and gynecological disorders, isolated and combined congenital malformations, samples 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.