India’s first bio-bank for heart failure research inaugurated

Context

The first National Heart Failure Biobank (NHFB) is inaugurated at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum.

About the National Heart Failure Biobank (NHFB)

• NHFB is set up to understand molecular pathways and to improve the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of Heart Failure.
• The researchers will be ableto get access to well-annotated biological specimens which is linked to clinical data with the appropriate standards of quality and security.  

• The bio samples preserved in the biobanks will include the blood, serum, tissue samples that are obtained during open-heart surgery and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and genomic DNA collected from heart failure patients.
• The biobank activity will be supervised by a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) with a member from ICMR.
• The samples will be collected after the informed consent from patients who are willing to donate specimens.
• The samples stored and cataloged will be linked to the clinical data such as physiological measures, imaging data like ECG, Echocardiography MRI, and follow-up data.
• Researchers and clinicians who are interested in research related to heart failure can collaborate with the SCTIMST once the proposal is approved by the TAC and Ethics Committee to conduct research.

Significance

• As there is no heart failure biobank in India, this would help in guiding future therapies and technologies and will bebeneficial for the heart failure patients significantly.
• The biobank will provide insights intoheart diseases and heart failure among Indian children and adults.
• It will open a new era in research in Heart Failure in India.
• It will change the persona of diagnosis and treatment for heart failure patients.
• The facility will be useful for the research and treatment of post-covid heart failure.