In 2021, Brazil reached the toll of nearly 620 thousand fatal victims of Covid-19, and now the number is past 700 thousand deaths. In that December, Fiocruz launched the Covid-19 Biobank, funded by the Ministry of Health, another groundbreaking initiative in facing the pandemic and innovation in the health area. The building, built in the Maré Campus of Fiocruz, in Rio de Janeiro, offers a proper infrastructure for safe, reliable, ethical and legal storage of biological human and non-human (viral) material related to SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.
In August, Fiotec visited the Fiocruz Covid-19 Biobank and was welcomed by Carlos Roberto Sobrinho, manager of Biological Materials and Technological Services. He says that BC19-Fiocruz began its operation in January 2022 in emergency character, receiving remnant biological materials ran by the Foundation’s Covid-19 Diagnosis Support Unit: about 95 thousand samples. “These samples are being incorporated and will be made available by the BC19-Fiocruz Collection of Human Biological Material, after the Development Protocol was approved in June 2023 by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) and the National Research Ethics Committee (Conep/CNS/MS),” he explains.
Still regarding Covid-19, the Biobank's Virus Collection received 170 SARS-CoV-2 lineages from the Laboratory of Respiratory, Exanthematous, Enterovirus and Viral Emergencies of IOC/Fiocruz. According to Carlos, those samples will be subjected to batch production and then made available to develop research and innovation.
Legacy for health research in Latin America
One of the first in the world to structure and implement the new concept of biobanks, in light of the ABNT NBR ISO 20387 Standard, the Fiocruz Covid-19 Biobank has more than human biological materials, a collection of non-human biological materials (viruses). The structure and storage capacity of BC19-Fiocruz, highlights Carlos, is an important legacy from the pandemic, as it provides the raw material to study and develop vaccines, medicine, diagnostic kits and strategies to control diseases. “In the future, the Biobank will receive other microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and protozoa) and human biological materials related to other aggravations, including those connected to sanitation emergencies,” he completes.
To Carlos, Fiocruz’s Covid-19 Biobank is an innovative structure to Brazil, as it gathers human biological materials and biodiversity, starting with the viruses. The facility is one of the few like it in all of Latin America. “Here we have a storage capacity of approximately 1.5 million samples in proper temperature, humidity and pressure conditions, through two flash freezing preservation methods, at -80 °C and -193 °C”. That storage capacity is considered another great differential in the structure of BC19-Fiocruz in national and international contexts.
Fiocruz’s Covid-19 Biobank
Structured to motivate national and international-level cooperations. BC19-Fiocruz operates in three main fronts:
- Supplying biological material for scientific research, technological development and innovation according to the current regulations, and following strict quality, biosafety and bioprotection criteria.
- Storing biological material with commitment and reliability, according to the current regulations, and following strict quality, biosafety and bioprotection criteria.
- Identifying and authenticating biological material with quality and efficiency, using methods based on molecular and phylogenetic features.
Learn more accessing the official website of Fiocruz Covid-19 Biobank.
Article written with information from the Fiocruz’s Covid-19 Biobank portal.
