Press release
Minister for Health announces €2 million investment in National Irish COVID-19 Biobank
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
The National Irish COVID-19 Biobank (NICB) is an essential component of Ireland’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Established by the Health Research Board at the request of the Department of Health, this valuable national asset will ensure that COVID-19 samples/data are collected in a coordinated and harmonised manner, and that a mechanism is established to ensure access for researchers. This will create greater opportunity for research and innovation to increase our understanding of COVID-19, inform new treatment and management strategies, improve outcomes for patients, and better prepare us for future emergencies.
Biobanks collect, store and distribute biological samples and associated clinical data and are crucial platforms for health research and innovation because they increase our understanding of disease in many ways*. Key to the ongoing fight against COVID-19, they provide researchers with the material necessary to accelerate scientific discovery and collaboration. For example, without biobanked samples from patients with COVID-19, vaccines could not have been developed in record time and we would not be able to track their effectiveness over time or in response to emerging variants.
Welcoming the announcement, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD said:
"The government’s Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 Plan for Living with COVID-19 firmly acknowledges that coordinated research and innovation, both nationally and internationally, is critical to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and future threats. Indeed, it specifically highlights the need for ‘infrastructure to support biorepository studies’, as this is key for research that translates into better patient care and outcomes, as well as population health strategies.
"The NICB is exactly this kind of infrastructure, and I welcome it as another world-class example of Irish researchers and clinicians collaborating so that research plays an even stronger role in the fight against COVID-19. Notably, the NICB provides an opportunity to prospectively investigate issues such as emerging variants and the increasing prevalence of long COVID. I am also very pleased by plans for significant public and patient involvement in its work - this is critical for maintaining public trust and ensuring continued participation and support for research in Ireland, and chimes perfectly with the increasing public sentiment of ‘nothing about us without us’."
Director of Research Strategy and Funding at the HRB, Dr Teresa Maguire, said:
"This is a significant milestone, not just in response to COVID-19, but as the first government investment in biobanking, which should unlock vast research and innovation potential. This investment is embedded in existing national health research infrastructure, is integrated into the healthcare system, and is guided by principles of transparency, inclusiveness and accessibility. It will act as a key driver of national, all-island and international collaboration. Furthermore, progress and learning from the NICB model will inform future public investment in biobanking in other important health areas beyond COVID-19."
The NICB will be overseen by an appropriate Governance Board, and decisions taken on access to samples and data will be made available through a public-facing website to ensure transparency. Crucially, the NICB aims to strike the balance between research with the potential to improve the health of many, while protecting the rights, dignity and agency of individual research participants, as well as building and maintaining public trust. As such, the NICB will be firmly established and robustly governed in line with international best practices and standards in the following areas:
1. Ethics: Informed consent for participation in a national biobank is fundamental, enabling participants autonomy, self-determination and the right to bodily integrity. To this end, all samples and data within the NICB will be consented for research purposes
2. Law: Confidentiality and data protection principles will underpin regulation and governance of the NICB. This will ensure that research participants have trust and confidence that their donated biological samples and personal data will be adequately safeguarded
3. Society: With a mission is to enable high quality research that advances health and healthcare, the NICB is founded in the public interest, for the public good
The NICB team comprises a collaboration across six academic institutions** and 13 hospitals* **, spanning adult, paediatric, maternity and community clinical services. It will be maintained by University College Dublin (UCD) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on behalf of a national consortium of partners* ***, and led by joint Principal Investigators Professor Colm Bergin (Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases at St James's Hospital) and Professor Paddy Mallon (Consultant Physician in Infectious Diseases at St. Vincent’s University Hospital).
Welcoming the news, Professor Bergin said:
"The announcement of funding of the NICB is very welcome and comes at a vital time in the pandemic. It brings together clinicians, researchers, academics and scientists from all national universities, the affiliated hospitals and Children’s Health Ireland, and will position Ireland to contribute internationally in the fight against COVID-19, facilitating collaborations with international research consortia."
Professor Mallon said:
"Establishment of the NICB represents further excellence in Ireland’s response to COVID-19. A rich biorepository of accessible biological samples and clinical data that is collected and maintained in line with the highest scientific standards and maintenance of privacy protection, the NICB will allow better understanding and management of COVID-19 and its complications. It will also help guide future biobanking initiatives into other diseases affecting people in Ireland."
The Health Research Board (HRB) is Ireland’s lead funding agency supporting innovative health research and delivering data and evidence that improves people’s health and patient care. We are committed to putting people first, and ensuring data and evidence are used in policy and practice to overcome health challenges, advance health systems, and benefit society and economy.
Biobanking is the process of acquiring and storing, together with some or all of the activities related to collection, preparation, preservation, testing, analysing and distributing defined biological material as well as related information and data. These biological samples and corresponding data are organised as ‘biobanks’ and can be used to improve understanding of genetic pre-dispositions or susceptibility, or factors impacting on disease severity, and provide key information on the influence of environment and lifestyle on health, constituting a basis for disease prevention programmes and the improvement of public health. Biobanking is a critical component of the national health research infrastructure and increasingly supports international collaboration. Samples can be of any nature, such as DNA, tissues, hair, brain, nail clippings, body fluids and many more. They are often frozen but can also be preserved in other forms.
University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Cork, National University of Ireland Galway and University of Limerick.
Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, National Maternity Hospital Holles Street, St Vincent's University Hospital, Wexford General Hospital, Coombe Women's University Hospital, St James' Hospital, Tallaght University Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, Cork University Hospital, Galway University Hospital, Sligo University Hospital, University Hospital Limerick, and Children's Health Ireland.
Queens University Belfast, Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, Irish Platform for Patient Organisations (IPPOSI), and participation by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and HPSC on governance groups.