In order to support fundamental and clinical research related to COVID-19, Amsterdam UMC initiated the COVID-19 Biobank. This biobank has been initiated by clinical departments, laboratories and the central biobank facility. As of March 20, 2020 employees of Amsterdam UMC are collecting samples of COVID-19 patients, resulting is a database with thousands of samples.

The COVID-19 Biobank is set up with the aim to enable as much research as possible in patients with COVID-19. The biobank collects a.o. clinical data, DNA and blood samples from COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Amsterdam UMC. With all this material, a lot of different research is possible, such as research into antibodies, diagnostics or new treatment. This data will be made available to all researchers.

This should help researchers from Amsterdam UMC and other research institutes to find answers on critical questions, like ‘What determines the sensitivity of the coronavirus?’ or ‘Why does one person have minor symptoms and the other person's disease is fatal?’ ‘What should we do to improve this outcome?’ A lot of data and materials are needed to answer these important questions.

In the video below Sanne de Bruin explains how blood samples and clinical data is collected for the COVID-19 Biobank. All kind of researchers use the data for a diversity of studies on COVID-19.

Get in contact with the COVID-19 Biobank via covid-19biobank@amsterdamumc.nl.