The CELSPAC Biobank is an open-access infrastructure that collects, processes, stores, and subsequently, distributes various types of biological samples (e.g., cord blood, blood, milk, urine) derived from population, environmental, bio-monitoring, and clinical studies. The samples are used for basic scientific research and the development of new diagnostic methods. Presently, our infrastructure primarily handles biological material collected in the CELSPAC population studies. In combination with the survey data, these samples contain invaluable information, offering local as well as international researchers vast amounts of information.

A large portion of the blood and urine samples are automatically processed and subsequently stored in a fully automatic storage system, which reduces the risk of procedural errors. Individual aliquots can be stored for many years at temperatures of -25°C, -80°C, or -150 °C. Furthermore, the facility’s environment (e.g., humidity and temperature) is tightly monitored and controlled, and secondary refrigerant sources, backup systems requiring electrical energy for cooling samples, which ensures precision, repeatability, and prevention of sample contamination or degradation.

Maintaining the highest level of data protection is guaranteed by the laboratory information system (LAS), which manages a large number of aliquots. The laboratory information system was developed in cooperation with the Czech national node of the European Biobanks Infrastructure Network (BBMRI) in order to ensure its compatibility with European standards.

The CELSPAC Biobank provides analyses of biomarkers of clinical chemistry and immunology in serum, plasma, and urine along with the possibility of semi-automatic isolation of nucleic acids from whole blood or blood cells.

More info at: CELSPAC Biobank website