Biobanking in times of crisis - The COVID-19 Autopsy and Biosample Registry Baden-Wuerttemberg

Lisa M Domke; Isabel M Klein; Laura Hartmann; Constantin Schwab; Alexander Marx; Martin Werner; Peter Möller; Falko Fend; Hans Bösmüller; Peter Schirmacher

doi:10.1016/j.prp.2022.154011

Biobanking in times of crisis - The COVID-19 Autopsy and Biosample Registry Baden-Wuerttemberg

Pathol Res Pract. 2022 Sep:237:154011. doi: 10.1016/j.prp.2022.154011. Epub 2022 Jul 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: lisa.domke@baker.edu.au.
² Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Tissue Bank of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
³ Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Tissue Bank of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: Laura.Hartmann3@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
⁴ Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Pathology, University Medical Centre Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1, 68167 Mannheim, Germany.
⁶ Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Breisacher Straße 115a, 79106 Freiburg, Germany.
⁷ Institute for Pathology, University Hospital of Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 23, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
⁸ Institute for Pathology and Neuropathology, University Hospital of Tuebingen, Liebermeisterstraße 8, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
⁹ Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; Tissue Bank of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Institute of Pathology, Heidelberg University Hospital, Im Neuenheimer Feld 224, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: Peter.Schirmacher@med.uni-heidelberg.de.

Abstract

Biobanking plays a critical role in diagnostics, biomarker research and development of novel treatment approaches for various diseases. In urgent need of understanding, preventing and treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the importance of biobanking including data sharing and management further increased. To provide high quality tissue biomaterials and data for research and public health, the COVID-19 Autopsy and Biosample Registry was established in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW) in Germany, combining expertise and technologies of the Institutes of Pathology of the five university hospitals in BW (Heidelberg, Tübingen, Ulm, Freiburg, Mannheim). The COVID-19 Autopsy and Biosample Registry BW comprises tissue samples from autopsies and associated data of deceased patients in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. The aim is to collect autopsy biospecimens, associated clinical and diagnostic data in a timely manner, register them, make them accessible for research projects and thus to support especially tissue-related research addressing COVID-19. By now, the BW network holds multiple collaborations and supported numerous publications to increase the understanding of COVID-19 disease. The achievements of the BW network as a landmark biobanking model project represent a potential blueprint for future disease-related biobanking and registry effort.

Keywords: Autopsy; Biosample registry; COVID-19; Paraffin and cryo-tissue samples; Tissue biobanking.

MeSH terms

Autopsy
Biocompatible Materials
Biological Specimen Banks
COVID-19*
Humans
Registries
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Biocompatible Materials