Novedades

01 October 2021
The CIBERES Pulmonary Biobank consortium, 10 years certifying its quality

Since 2012, the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium (PBP in its spanish acronym) of the Center for Biomedical Research in Respiratory Diseases Network (CIBERES) has renewed its quality seal under the ISO 9001:2015 standard, guaranteeing its commitment to improve its activity every day to provide a better service supply of human biological samples to researchers, improving the transfer of knowledge to society.

Despite being pioneers in certifying its activity, from the moment the sample of a patient is obtained to the delivery to the researcher who needs it for their investigations, having a decentralized activity where up to 11 hospitals participate, which increases the complexity of control of the processes associated with samples, and defying the great challenge posed by the emergence of the COVID19 pandemic, PBP CIBERES has maintained its quality policy for the benefit of patients.

PBP was created to facilitate research both basic and oriented to clinical and translational aspects in the area of ​​respiratory diseases. Maintaining the quality seal for so many years has meant to have good control of all the collection, processing, conservation and delivery of biological resources to researchers, guaranteeing a broad characterization of both the pre-analytical processes of the sample and the information donor clinic, from which it came.

All of this makes it possible to improve the reproducibility of the data obtained from the studies that are using them, assessing the transfer of knowledge to develope new diagnostic tools or treatments for patients, and guaranteeing the rights of donors according to current legislation, including that the patient participation contributes to dozens of studies to be carried out that advance the understanding of respiratory and related diseases, such as asthma, COPD, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis or lung cancer, and others in order to be able to help future patients.

The sample donation does not imply any additional risk for the donor, since they are obtained during tests and / or procedures that are carried out for their disease. In the case of surgeries, the removed tissue is sent to the pathological anatomy laboratory in order to diagnose the patient and the excess of tissue, normally discarded, is the tissue that is donated for research purposes.

04 June 2019
The Pulmonary Biobank Consortium were at ISBER 2019 ANNUAL MEETING & EXHIBITS (Shanghai)

The Spanish Biobank Network has been present in the annual meeting of ISBER in Shanghai: ISBER 2019 ANNUAL MEETING & EXHIBITS. The meeting was held from May 6 to 10 and its program has included plenary sessions, workshops, round tables and poster sessions. The Pulmonary Biobank Platform has contributed with an oral presentation entitled "Performance comparison between Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) tracking tags and other labelng strategies for cryotubes" -> Download presentation.

The work has been presented by the postdoctoral researcher Fernando Gómez Romano and compares the time spent in labeling using several methods, from manual labeling to using microchips based on micro-electromechanical systems. The decision to use one or the other type of labeling influences the processing time of the samples and has an effect on several common procedures in the day-to-day life of a biobank.

 

 
 
 
 
 
15 February 2019
Contribution of Pulmonary Biobank Consortium (PBP) to 2nd Biospecimen Research Symposium: Focus on Quality and Standards (Berlín)

The Pulmonary Biobank Consortium (PBP) has taken part in the recent 2nd Biospecimen Research Symposium, held in Berlin on 5 and 6 of february, trough the presentation of two posters: Performance comparison between micro electro mechanical systems tracking tags and other labelling strategies for cryotubes and Challenges and solutions adopted for the creation of a complex and multicentre prospective collection of tissue samples to evaluate the usability of biomarkers in biospecimen research.

 

This symposium was organized by the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER), that in an active effort to focus on the diverse geographical background of its members has established a regional meeting series to complement its annual meeting. The main topics of the symposium were quality and standardization applied to the most frequents specimens managed by a biobank.

 

The first contribution, Challenges and solutions adopted for the creation of a complex and multicentre prospective collection of tissue samples to evaluate the usability of biomarkers in biospecimen research, was presented by the PhD candidate Margalida Esteva and it is the output of the Spanish Biobank Network multicentric colaborative R&D research group in tissue quality. The Pulmonary Biobank Consortium is part of this research group, funded by ISCIII trough its Health Research Programm and FEDER funds. The research group is also comprises the following biobanks: Fundación Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (CNIO), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria INCLIVA, Fundación Vasca de Innovación e Investigación Sanitarias (BIOEF), Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédica August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, Instituto Murciano de Investigación Biosanitaria Virgen de la Arrixaca(IMIB), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago Compostela, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Instituto de Investigación Hospital Universitario Vall d´Hebrón (VHIR), Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédica de Lleida- Fundación Dr. Pifarre (IRBLleida) y Fundación Jiménez Díaz, BioBanco del Principado de Asturias, Biobanco Hospital Virgen de la Salud (BioB-HVS), Biobanco A Coruña, Biobanco en Red de la Región de Murcia, Biobanco Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón, Biobanco del Consorci Mar Parc de Salut de Barcelona (MARBiobanc),Biobanco del la Universidad de Navarra (IdiSNA) y Banco de Tejidos CIEN.

This work measures the impact of pre-analytical variables, mainly cold ischemia and fixation time, on tissue samples.

To see the poster: https://biobancopulmonar.ciberes.org/sites/default/files/P4_MEsteva_vfin...

 

The second contribution, Performance comparison between micro electro mechanical systems tracking tags and other labelling strategies for cryotubes, the postdoctoral researcher Fernando Gómez-Romano compares the eficiency of using a tracking tag system based on micro electro mechanics with other different tracking tag systems and also evaluates the impact of its implantation in the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium daily procedures.

To see the poster: https://biobancopulmonar.ciberes.org/sites/default/files/P24%20PosterBlu...

 
11 December 2017
Cristina Villena, new coordinator of the National Network of Biobanks Platform

Cristina Villena Portella, coordinator of the Biobank Pulmonary Consortium (PBC) of the Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red of Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), has been named the new coordinator of the National Network of Biobanks Platform (PRNB). Dr. Villena, expert and reference figure in the field of biobanks, faces this new stage with the mission of placing the National Network of Biobanks Platform as "the world's largest provider of samples of excellent quality to drive the progress in biomedical research; uniting the work of all its members and projecting their collective potential".

The National Network of Biobanks Platform is an initiative of the Carlos III Health Institute created for the promotion of R&D through the supply of high quality human biological samples, providing an added value to the National Health System. In the new phase 2018-2020, it will be formed by 39 institutions throughout the national territory, being one of the Platforms of the Acción Estratégica en Salud more extensive, diverse and complex in its management. It has an extraordinary history of cooperative work for more than seven years and development of innovation in the field of biobanks, which makes it today the largest European structure capable of providing great diversity of samples for the advancement of scientific knowledge. It includes hospital biobanks, regional networks, networked biobanks, biobanks from the main accredited health research institutes, as well as biobanks from research centers and universities throughout the national geography.

07 December 2017
CIBERES interviews Cristina Villena, Coordinator of the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium

An interview with the coordinator of the Biobank Pulmonary Consortium, Dr. Cristina Villena, has recently been published on the CIBERES website. In the interview, Dr. Villena stressed that the Pulmonary Biobank gives an enormous boost to the efficiency and speed of execution of projects of excellence, promoting a breakthrough in the knowledge of many respiratory pathologies. In addition, the coordinator of the PBC explains the main mission of the consortium, its services portfolio, the participating institutions, collaboration with other areas of the CIBER, such as CIBERONC, and the main present and future challenges of biobanks, among other issues.

The complete interview can be read in the following link: Interview with Cristina Villena Coordinator of the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium

30 June 2017
First Meeting of the Respiratory Tract Tumors Program organized by CIBERONC with the participation of the PBC

On Wednesday June 27th, 2017, the First MEETING OF THE RESPIRATORY TRACT TUMORS PROGRAM was organized by CIBERONC at ISCIII (Madrid), whose coordinator is Dr. Luis Montuenga. The meeting was attended by Dr. Luis Seijo, coordinator of the CIBERES Lung Cancer Line and Dr. Cristina villena, Coordinator of the CIBERES Pulmonary Biobank Consortium, along with Mr. Jesús Izco, coordinator of ICTS-NANBIOSIS of CIBER-BBN, in order to find synergies between the activities carried out by the three CIBER-ISCIII areas, with the objective to promote collaborative actions with great potential and impact in the generation of knowledge and application of new strategies in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.

The meeting, which also involved each of the CIBERONC research groups related to the program, explaining its research lines and objectives, was very fruitful and encourage the interaction of future meetings between the three areas.

 

 

 

 

15 March 2017
Information for Researchers and Donors

Do you know that 90% of biomedical research requires the use of human biological samples? Do you know where the samples come from? Do you know that you can be a participant in the advances in biomedicine?

The main objective of Biomedical Research is to transfer the results of investigations focused in the knowledge of diseases to develop new effective diagnoses and treatments, which improve patient health and quality of life. This is where the role of anonymous citizens, who donate a sample of their tissues, is key to the development of scientific advances.

Biological samples and clinical data donated for research are essential for the study of complex diseases such as Cancer, Alzheimer or DIabetes as well as many others whose development is currently unknown. Only through the research and the effort of all the professionals, we can advance in the diagnosis, in the improvement of the prognosis and in the treatment and prevention of the disease.

The Pulmonary Biobank Consortium (PBC) is a biobanks network created with the aim of facilitating the access to biological samples and clinical data to national and international researchers, to promote translational biomedical research.

In addition, PBC belongs to the National Biobanks Network, a consortium that emerges with the objective of providing high-level scientific, technical and technological support to Research and Development projects in Health Sciences and Technologies and to promote Innovation in this scope. One of the most important features of the National Biobanks Network Consortium is the total commitment to donors, guaranteeing efficiency, confidentiality, transparency and professionalism in the use of the biological samples.

21 November 2016
Best oral communication award in the VII National Spanish Congress of Biobanking and I Latin-American Biobanking Congress (Santiago de Compostela)

In the seventh edition of National Spanish Congress of Biobanking and the first Latin-American Biobanking Congress held between 16 and 18 November 2016, the work entitled OPTIMIZACIÓN DE MUESTRAS DE TEJIDO PARA EL DESARROLLO Y LA VALIDACIÓN DE BIOMARCADORES DE ENFERMEDAD: PROYECTO OPTIMARK, presented by Cristina Villena, the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium of CIBER Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES) coordinator, received the award to the best oral communication in the congress.

The meeting has been organized by the Biobank from Santiago de Compostela’s Institute for Health Research (IDIS), the Galician Biobanking Network (RGBB), the National Oncological Research Center (CNIO) and the National Biobanking Network Consortium-ISCIII (PRNBB), with the collaboration of Servizo Galego de Saúde (SERGAS), the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), the University Hospital Complex (CHUS), the Medicine and Odontology Faculty of Santiago, as well as the Latin-American Biobanking Network. This is the most important Biobanking annual meeting in Spain and the first one of the Latin-America Network.

The work, coordinated by C. Villena (CIBERES) and Alberto Rábano (Neurological Diseases Research Center Foundation, CIEN), summarizes the task carried out until the moment along more than a year and a half by the collaborative multicentric group in Research and Development in tissue quality of the National Biobanking Network Consortium, which consists of biobanks of the National Oncological Research Center (CNIO), Health Research Institute INCLIVA, Basque Innovation and Health Research Foundation (BIOEF), August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), Public Health System from Andalucía, Murcian Biomedical Research Institute Virgen de la Arrixaca (IMIB), Biomedical Research Institute from Santiago de Compostela, Biomedical Research Institute from Navarra, Research Institute from University Hospital Vall d’Hebron (VHIR), Biomedical Research Institute from Lleida-Dr. Pifarre Foundation (IRBLleida) and Jiménez Díaz Foundation.

26 September 2016
Vienna’s Europe Biobank Week Best Poster Award

In the first edition of the Europe Biobank Week celebrated in Vienna between 13 and 16 Septembe 2016, the paper entitled OPTIMIZATION OF TISSUE SAMPLES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF DISEASE BIOMARKERS: THE OPTIMARK PROJECT, presented by Cristina Villena, the coordinator of the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium of the CIBER Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), won the award for the best poster communication of the congress.

 

The meeting, organized by the Biobanking and Biomolecular resources Research Infrastructures-European Research Infrastructure Consortium (BBMRI-ERIC) and the European and Middle Eastern Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking (ESBB), who have recently formed a strategic alliance for the benefit of European biobanks efforts, brought together more than 600 professionals in the field. It is the most important annual conference of biobanks in Europe to facilitate collaboration in biobanks and biopreservation of samples related activities for research and development.

 

The work, coordinated by C. Villena (CIBERES) and Alberto Rábano (Fundación Centro Investigación Enfermedades Neurológicas, CIEN), summarizes the work done during a year and a half by the multicenter collaborative group in R & D in tissue quality of the Biobank National Network Consortium, formed by the biobanks of the Fundación Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (CNIO), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria INCLIVA, Fundación Vasca de Innovación e Investigación Sanitarias (BIOEF), Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédica August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, Instituto Murciano de Investigación Biosanitaria Virgen de la Arrixaca (IMIB), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago Compostela, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Instituto de Investigación Hospital Universitario Vall d´Hebrón (VHIR), Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédica de Lleida-Fundación Dr. Pifarre (IRBLleida) and Fundación Jiménez Díaz.

08 June 2016
VII National Spanish Congress of Biobanking

The seventh edition of the National Spanish Congress of Biobanking and the first Latin-American Congress of Biobanking will be held on November 16th, 17th and 18th in Santiago de Compostela.

Under the slogan, "Sumando esfuerzos, uniendo caminos", it aims to provide an international and collaborative event in a historic enclave. It is organized by the Biobank of the “Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostela” (IDIS), the IDIS, the “Red Gallega de Biobancos” (RGBB), the “Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas” (CNIO) and the “Plataforma de la Red Nacional de Biobancos-ISCIII” (PRNBB), with the collaboration of the “Servizo Galego de Saúde” (SERGAS), the “Universidade de Santiago de Compostela” (USC), the “Complejo Hospitalario Universitario” (CHUS), the Medicine and Odontology Faculty of Santiago de Compostela, as well as the “Red Latinoamericana de Biobancos”.

It has developed a wide and varied scientific program with the objective of improving the service to researchers and to society.

The organizers encourage active participation in the event.

More info: http://www.congresobiobancosantiago2016.com

 

16 May 2016
A new website

We renew our website in order to develop a more accessible communication, more personalized, with more contents and more current.

We have updated all the contents, facilitating the access and improving the navigation. The new website is a lot more complete, facilitates the activity and the relationship with the users.

From our new website, you can find out about our activities, projects, collaborations and new developments we will publish in.

Some of the highlights that you can find are:

 MORE PERSONALIZED

We want to get closer to our different types of users, so we have structured our website to adapt it and make it more accessible to researchers, donors and participants of the PBC. In this way we provide customized and adapted information to each profile.

We have added a section for donors, to let them know what is achieved thanks to their donation, making them participants of the importance of advances in research. In the same way, we provide them an informative tool to have access whenever they need for the documents and regulations concerning the donation.

NEWS SECTION UPDATE

We update our news section in order to report all the news concerning the PBC. In addition we will include news about the activity of the biobank, where the samples collected to date, the types of diseases or their source will be reflected. In this way it can be seen our evolution and the characteristics of the samples and services we can offer.

YOU CAN QUERY INFORMATION FROM ALL DEVICES

The new website is suitable for both mobile and fixed devices, so our information is available from the phone, the tablet, the laptop or the computer.

It was time for an update. New times require new tools and enhanced security, and the PBC always tries to advance with technology to offer our users the best information, samples and quality.

05 February 2016
The Vall d’Hebron Hospital joins to PBC

The Vall d’Hebron Hospital is a leader in lung transplantation in adults and children. The first surgery was successfully performed in 1991 and it has become a reference center in Catalonia, being one of the top ten in Spain and it ranks one of the four top positions worldwide. In 2015, it was the leader in lung transplantations with 58 surgeries.

Thus, this hospital is incorporated in a new node attached to the PBC. It is the new bet of ciberes in order to expand the acquisition of samples obtained from explants, which are very important for researchers of respiratory diseases.

Moreover, despite its recent incorporation, last January the Vall d’Hebron Hospital won the ISO:9001 certification which is what guarantees our consortium. See link here.

This has been possible thanks to the professionals led by Dr. Susana Gomez. This team also has the Doctors Joan Solé, Irene Sansano and Antonio Tomán, from the thoracic surgery, pathologic anatomy and pneumology services, respectively, which add up to 3 senior technicians responsible for the management and processing of samples received.

PBC welcomes and celebrates its incorporation as it becomes the eleventh biobank of our network.

 

Photography: Pneumology lab team involved in the Pulmonary Biobank.

29 January 2016
PBC samples origin

Within our broad collection of samples we have solid tissue samples from different sources.

The most common source is the conventional surgery. Patients undergone to programmed pulmonary surgery are asked for obtaining their consent to participate in the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium with the excess tissue resulting from the surgery.

The second most common origin of the samples is the explant. This means that patients who undergo lung transplantation consent his removed lungs to be used by the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium for research in respiratory and related diseases. This activity is mainly achieved through the participation of the 12 de Octubre Hospital and the Vall d’Hebron Hospital nodes.

Finally, the more complex solid tissue samples to be collected are those resulting from transplant. These samples are obtained from organ donors who at death donate their organs and tissues not only to save other lives, but also allow their use in research. These samples are of special interest since they are often healthy lung tissue. Healthy tissue samples are very useful in research, allowing to compare and to contrast the results obtained in studies with pathological tissues. Without these comparisons is difficult to know if whatever discovered in a study is really different from what happens in a normal situation, or whether a treatment is really favoring the recovery of the diseased tissue while sparing healthy tissue.

In the PBC we are looking for the continuous improvement for researchers to have access to quality samples. So we are working hard and together in order to get samples from different sources that allow them to conduct rigorous and relevant studies.

 

15 January 2016
PBC offers a wide range of samples to researchers

In the PBC we are looking for the continuous improvement for researchers to have access to quality samples within the field of respiratory and related diseases. This means that we are not only specialized in a particular type of samples, but we seek quality samples from different pathologies.

Our team, made up of pathologists and thoracic surgeons as well as our technicians responsible for each node, has worked hard in order to get access to more complex patients, increasing the diversity in the samples of the biobank.

Our biobank contains mostly healthy tissue samples from patients with malignant neoplasms of respiratory and intrathoracic organs, and from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, year after year we have increased the number of samples from other respiratory and related pathologies as emphysema, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis among other diseases.

One of the most difficult challenges has been to obtain samples from healthy patients, which would allow researchers to compare their results in pathological tissue. It was thanks to organ donors and transplant coordination teams that we have managed to go collecting these samples so valuable.

Thus, with the effort of all, the Pulmonary Biobank Consortium has a rich and diverse collection of samples with which to promote a quality research.