The Role of Biobanks in the Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic: The Portuguese Response

Authors

  • Saba Abdulghani CHAIN Biobank. Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). Lisbon. Chronic Diseases Research Centre (CEDOC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4537-8691
  • Ângela Afonso Biobanco-IMM. Instituto de Medicina Molecular. Faculdade de Medicina. Universidade de Lisboa. Lisbon.
  • Mireia Castillo Champalimaud Foundation Biobank. Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. Fundação Champalimaud. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8926-6013
  • Javier Martín-Fernández Champalimaud Foundation Biobank. Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. Fundação Champalimaud. Lisbon.
  • Inês Franco Champalimaud Foundation Biobank. Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. Fundação Champalimaud. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2482-1420
  • Bruna Parreira Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO). Hospital de Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT). Azores. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3705-9121
  • Ana Couto Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO). Hospital de Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT). Azores. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3600-2812
  • Jácome Bruges-Armas Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO). Hospital de Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT). Azores. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7671-6521
  • Ana Maria Rodrigues CHAIN Biobank. Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). Lisbon. Chronic Diseases Research Centre (CEDOC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2046-8017
  • Ana Gonçalves i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde. University of Porto. Porto. Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology (Ipatimup). University of Porto. Porto. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7533-2059
  • Alexandre Dias i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde. University of Porto. Porto. Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology (Ipatimup). University of Porto. Porto. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5110-5764
  • Ionela Toader Biobanco-IMM. Instituto de Medicina Molecular. Faculdade de Medicina. Universidade de Lisboa. Lisbon.
  • Andreia Lopes Biobanco-IMM. Instituto de Medicina Molecular. Faculdade de Medicina. Universidade de Lisboa. Lisbon.
  • Cláudia Faria Biobanco-IMM. Instituto de Medicina Molecular. Faculdade de Medicina. Universidade de Lisboa. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1259-9922
  • Fernanda Marques Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). School of Medicine. University of Minho. Braga. ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory. Braga. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3612-1870
  • João Carlos Sousa Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). School of Medicine. University of Minho. Braga. ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory. Braga. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3249-0035
  • Ricardo Silvestre Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). School of Medicine. University of Minho. Braga. ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory. Braga. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9270-2717
  • Paulo Pereira Chronic Diseases Research Centre (CEDOC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9908-2290
  • Manuel Correia Department of Neurology. Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto. Porto. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar. University of Porto. Porto. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6218-6072
  • Luís Maia i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde. University of Porto. Porto. Department of Neurology. Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto. Porto. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar. University of Porto. Porto. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8140-3471
  • Helena Canhão CHAIN Biobank. Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). Lisbon. Chronic Diseases Research Centre (CEDOC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1894-4870
  • Sérgio Dias Biobanco-IMM. Instituto de Medicina Molecular. Faculdade de Medicina. Universidade de Lisboa. Lisbon. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7603-4616

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.17856

Keywords:

Biological Specimen Banks, Biomedical Research, COVID-19, Pandemics, Portugal, SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

N/a.

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Author Biographies

Saba Abdulghani, CHAIN Biobank. Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). Lisbon. Chronic Diseases Research Centre (CEDOC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon.

Saba Abdulghani is the coordinator of the Comprehensive Health biobank (CHAIN) at the Comprehensive Health Research Centre, Nova Medical School and a researcher at CEDOC, NMS. She holds a doctorate degree in Biomaterials from Queen Mary University of London, UK. Following her PhD, Saba was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship to work at the Orthopaedics department at Lund University Hospital in Sweden. She later moved to Portugal to join the Rheumatology research unit at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM) and work on the nanomechanical properties of osteoporotic bone where she was awarded the European Calcified tissue Society fellowship. Her main area of research is the nanostructure of osteoporotic bone in early and post-menopausal women and biobanking.

Mireia Castillo, Champalimaud Foundation Biobank. Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. Fundação Champalimaud. Lisbon.

Mireia Castillo-Martin, MD, PhD is a pathologist who is the Director of the Champalimaud Foundation Biobank (CFB) since 2016. She has been involved in Biobanking since 2011, when she was appointed co-Director of the Biorepository at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Other than coordinating all the biobank activities of the CFB, she has also been involved in the histopathological diagnosis of the collected specimens for quality control.

Javier Martín-Fernández, Champalimaud Foundation Biobank. Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. Fundação Champalimaud. Lisbon.

Javier Martín-Fernández has an academic background in Economics and has been working in Biobanking since 2010. His expertise has been in Quality Control, Data Management and Regulatory Compliance for CAP and CLIA accreditation. He has been collaborating in the Champalimaud Foundation Biobank (CFB) since 2016 and is the coordinator for the “Registo Oncológico Nacional (RON)” at the Champalimaud Clinical Centre since 2018.

Inês Franco, Champalimaud Foundation Biobank. Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. Fundação Champalimaud. Lisbon.

I have a bachelor in Biology from the University of Évora, and I am currently working as a Laboratory Technician at the Champalimaud Foundation Biobank (CFB) at the Champalimaud Foundation (CF), Lisbon, Portugal, whilst being a Medical Microbiology Master student at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

Bruna Parreira, Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO). Hospital de Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT). Azores.

In 2007 I finished the course in Biotechnology and in 2012 the Master in Biomedical Sciences, at the University of the Azores. In 2013 I did the pos graduation “Certificate Principles of Biobanking for clinical, biological and environmental biospecimens and bioresources” at the university of Luxembourg. In 2018 I complete the PhD “Molecular Biotechnology” at the University of the Algarve. I am currently an investigator at SEEBMO and my research interests are Biobanking, Genetic of ectopic calcifications and Next generation sequencing.

Ana Couto, Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO). Hospital de Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT). Azores.

is the Laboratory Manager of Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO) since 2010. Her main research area is the genetics of ectopic calcifications, mainly through the study of Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) and chondrocalcinosis (CC) multiply affected families. The main objective of her study is to determine the gene(s) involved in the pathogenesis of these disorders. Since she started working in SEEBMO, in 2001, she has authored/co-authored numerous research papers and book chapters.

Jácome Bruges-Armas, Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC). NOVA Medical School. Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Lisbon. Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO). Hospital de Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira (HSEIT). Azores.

Senior Specialist in Internal Medicine and Specialist in Oncology. Member of the Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), Nova medical School, University of Lisbon, and Director of the Oncology Service and Director of the Epidemiology and Molecular Biology Service (SEEBMO) at the Hospital de Santo Espirito de Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal. Main research interests are the epidemiology and molecular genetics of Spondyloarthritis (SpA), Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH), and Chondrocalcinosis (CC). He is a member of the EULAR EURODISH group.

Fernanda Marques, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). School of Medicine. University of Minho. Braga. ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory. Braga.

Fernanda Marques obtained a PhD in 2008 from Minho University in Biomedical Sciences and a degree in Applied Biology in 2001. Currently, Fernanda is an Assistant Researcher at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, University of Minho, where she has been since 2004. The project developed so far, and that she intends to foster, is key in bidirectional translational research in the field of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). For that, in basic science, she has a team trained for the studies in the animal models and thus, the goal is to put herself own efforts in clinical research, where the main challenge is the consolidation of the MinhoMedBiobank. Her specific scientific areas of interest are: Neuroimmunology, Brain barriers, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and biobanking. Fernanda Marques belongs to some evaluation committees and she is a reviewer of over 20 international scientific journals. Fernanda Marques published 64 scientific articles, 5 book chapters, summing an h-index of 31.
Since 2009, she is an invited Assistant Professor at School of Medicine of the University of Minho.

João Carlos Sousa, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). School of Medicine. University of Minho. Braga. ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory. Braga.

João Carlos Sousa (JCS) is an Associate Professor in the School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal and the Deputy Director of the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). JCS has a Biochemistry BSc (1999) and did his PhD in Biomedicine in the neuroendocrinology of thyroid hormones (2005). He then did post-doctoral training in the neurobiology of the stress response and later in the role of the epithelial cells of the choroid plexus in modulating the concentration of key metabolites and proteins at the interface of the blood and the brain barriers. He is a principal researcher in the ICVS since 2009. JCS published 60 articles in international peer-reviewed journals (2403 citations, h-index of 28), been a PI/Co-PI in projects with a net funding of >600k€ and a team member in more than 10 projects including from FP7 grants and research contracts with pharma companies.

Ricardo Silvestre, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). School of Medicine. University of Minho. Braga. ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory. Braga.

Ricardo Silvestre graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2003 and completed a PhD in Biochemisty at University of Porto in 2007. Currently, Ricardo is a Principal Researcher at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, University of Minho, where he has been since 2014. His main research interest is the pathogenesis of leishmaniasis, with a particular emphasis in unraveling the intricate levels of connection between cell metabolism, immunity, and infection. His work has been instrumental in elucidating the immunometabolic network that regulates the immune response to Leishmania, which plays a crucial role in defining susceptibility to infection, and in developing new prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine strategies against Leishmania. Ricardo Silvestre published 79 scientific articles, 6 book chapters and edited one book summing an h-index of 26.

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Published

2022-06-01

How to Cite

1.
Abdulghani S, Afonso Ângela, Castillo M, Martín-Fernández J, Franco I, Parreira B, Couto A, Bruges-Armas J, Rodrigues AM, Gonçalves A, Dias A, Toader I, Lopes A, Faria C, Marques F, Sousa JC, Silvestre R, Pereira P, Correia M, Maia L, Canhão H, Dias S. The Role of Biobanks in the Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic: The Portuguese Response. Acta Med Port [Internet]. 2022 Jun. 1 [cited 2024 Nov. 23];35(6):411-5. Available from: https://actamedicaportuguesa.com/revista/index.php/amp/article/view/17856

Issue

Vol. 35 No. 6 (2022): June

Section

Perspective

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