CHAIN Biobank

The CHAIN Biobank is a key instrumental infrastructure of CHRC. It's a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing de-identified genetic, omics, histologic, lifestyle, and health information from over 11,000 participants, including those from the general population and individuals with specific chronic noncommunicable diseases. It supports researchers through the collection, processing, and quality control of a wide range of human biospecimens (solid and fluid) and associated health data. The biobank is composed of three labs: a BLS2 biosafety lab, freezer rooms, and a sample processing and quality control lab, offering services such as DNA and RNA extraction, cell culture, flow cytometry, and microscopy. In collaboration with the Pre-Clinical Research Support Centre, it currently stores more than 30,000 samples, including blood, serum, plasma, urine, and bones, from its 11,000 participants.

The CHAIN biobank is located at Nova Medical School (NMS), Faculty of Medical Sciences and is approved by NMS ethics committee and authorized by the Portuguese National Commission for Data Protection. Data management and confidentiality good practices were recognized through the Data Privacy Impact Assessment evaluation performed by NOVA Data Protection Officer (2019). CHAIN Biobank is a member of the National Biobank Network: biobanco.pt.

The main objectives of CHAIN Biobank are:

• To support biomedical, translational and clinical research activities developed at the CHRC. The areas addressed are related to chronic diseases (such as musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, oncological and respiratory diseases);
• To collect a wide range of human biological samples (solid and fluid) with clinical data relevant to research into new therapeutic strategies and with a significant impact on public health;
• To manage existing collections for use in research projects that will provide added value to the CHRC;
• To maintain an optimized quality management system in order to provide the highest quality control and assurance;
• To provide support to researchers working with human biospecimens, such as SOP developments or study projects, for example;
• To ensure confidentiality and protection of participants' data;
• To conduct all activities in line with national and international legal and ethical guidelines.

Learn more about us here.
Or reach out to us: chain.biobank@nms.unl.pt