The biobank.cy Center of Excellence of the University of Cyprus has announced a significant milestone in its mission to generate new knowledge to improve human health and contribute to the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of diseases. The voluntary participation of 10,000 citizens of Cyprus “marks a pivotal moment in the advancement of cutting-edge scientific research and innovation,” it says.
According to a UCY press release, the Center’s commitment to promoting the health and well-being of future generations is enriched by the invaluable contribution of medical records and biological material, such as DNA, voluntarily donated by healthy volunteers and patients.
Dr. Constantinos Deltas, Professor of Medicine and Molecular Genetics, and Director of biobank.cy said that the milestone of 10,000 volunteers demonstrates the dedication and generosity of our fellow citizens, whose contributions shape the future of medical research.
“Every DNA sample donated is a step towards finding solutions to the greatest challenges in the health sector. Together, we are laying the foundation for discoveries that will benefit not only our own generation, but also future generations,” he stressed.
It is noted that the data and samples that are archived are studied by specialised scientific teams of the Center, with many foreign collaborators, with the aim of identifying specificities and characteristics of DNA that are responsible for various genetic diseases, rare or common ones, in order to be used as tools to support precision medical research. The same archives are already being utilized and are available to any researcher interested in providing solutions to health problems.
The voluntary participation of 10,000 citizens in the Biobank has led to significant developments and findings, the announcement states.
Those concern mapping of the DNA of Cypriots, research on patients with hereditary forms of hematuria and Alport syndrome, a research programme for the better diagnosis, treatment and prevention of other hereditary kidney diseases, a study of hereditary heart diseases, a study of hereditary and multifactorial vision diseases, a research study of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cyprus, the use of liquid biopsy as a prognostic biomarker in lung cancer patients receiving immunotherapy, the development of a nano-carrier for the targeted treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, preclinical testing of a candiate drug for Alport Syndrome.
The Center is funded by the European Commission, the Republic of Cyprus and the University of Cyprus, within the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 program, while individual projects are funded by the Research and Innovation Foundation, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the New York pharmaceutical company Regeneron. External partners in the implementation of biobank.cy are BBMRI-ERIC, which represents a large pan-European consortium of Biobanks, the Medical University of Graz, which has one of the largest and best Biobanks, and the Cypriot private company TALOS, as a project promotion partner.
It notes that the interest of Cypriot citizens of all ages, genders, religions, languages, nationalities and communities, to become volunteers, is vital for the progress of the research project.
The Center’s Biobank has received approval from the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee and is dedicated to safeguarding personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU). The Biobank’s quality management team is diligently working towards fulfilling the criteria for ISO 20387 compliance.
Those interested can contact 77771838 or 22892815 or online at [email protected] or by visiting the website https://biobank.cy.
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Source: CNA
