Biobank

The IRBLleida Biobank is the unit responsible for the management of samples and associated data destined for research. This management includes all the processes of reception, processing, conservation and transfer of biological samples to the scientific community, guaranteeing quality and traceability at all times, in compliance with current legislation. This scientific-technical service arises from the need to support biomedical research both in the health system of the Lleida region and at the University of Lleida. The biological samples kept at the Biobank come mainly from the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital and the University Hospital of Santa Maria de Lleida.

In 2013 the biobank was authorised by the Department of Health and is registered in the National Register of Biobanks of the Carlos III Health Institute under reference B.0000682. Since 2012 the Biobank has been certified by the ISO 9001 standard and the scope of application of the Biobank's quality management system covers all the following activities: reception, processing, storage and dispatch of biological samples from donors for biomedical research. It is also part of the Xarxa Catalana de Bancs de Tumors (XBTC) and the Plataforma ISCIII Biobancos y Biomodelos. This national platform is organised into four specific hubs: Biobanks, Animal Models, 3D Printing and Organoids; and aims to make the maximum number of biological samples and their associated data available to the scientific community.

A catalogue of services has been created within the Animal Models Hub. Any customer can find out, by registering in advance, the map of animal model services available. Among these are the animal models present at IRBLleida (they can be consulted in the list).

Recently, the platform has become an observer member of one of the most relevant platforms at European level, the European Biobank Infrastructure. (BBMRI-ERIC).

What do we have?

The Biobank currently has more than 335,000 stored samples from some 23,000 patients. These are tissue samples frozen in OCT or liquid nitrogen, paraffin, blood samples, serum, plasma, urine, CSF, pleural fluid, among others.

Collections:

• Oncological diseases (breast cancer, colon, rectum, endometrium, ovary, kidney, liver, pancreas, thyroid, lung, etc.).
• Neoplastic diseases of the pleura
• Neurological diseases (stroke, Alzheimer's disease)
• Respiratory diseases (obstructive sleep apnoea, SARS-CoV2)
• Metabolic diseases (diabetes and morbid obesity)
• Inflammatory bowel disease (celiac disease)
• Cardiovascular diseases ('Bus de la Salut').

It should be noted that the Biobank is also collaborating in a prospective, multicentre international project aimed at understanding the molecular and genetic bases of cancer.

What do we offer?

The Biobank makes available to the scientific community a large number of samples (those corresponding to oncological diseases can be consulted in the search engine). Year after year there has been an upward trend in the number of samples provided to both internal IRBLleida researchers and national and international researchers.

It is also attached to the Hospital Universitari Arnau de Vilanova Clinical Research Ethics Committee.

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Interests documents

• IRBLleida Biobank User Manual
• IRBLleida Biobank Quality Policy
• ISO 9001:2015 certificate
• Guide to citing the Biobank, acknowledgements and/or materials and methods of articles
• Information for donors
• History of the Biobank

Members of the biobank external scientific committee

• Rosa Maria Martí Laborda
• Judith Pallarès
• Jordi Tarragona
• Joan Viñas