Biobank Types
There are a number of different biobanks across the network that are associated with different hospitals. These include:
The Irish LongituDinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is a large-scale, nationally representative, longitudinal study on ageing in Ireland, the overarching aim of which is to make Ireland the best place in the world to grow old.
The RITA-Ireland (previously Rare Kidney Disease) Registry and Biobank was established in 2012 and is focused on the rare autoimmune disease ANCA-associated vasculitis. Longitudinal samples obtained at various stages of disease evolution are linked to a granular clinical dataset. It is a part of the European Reference Network for rare immune disorders, RITA (https://ern-rita.org/).
A number of cancer biobanks exist linked to St James’s Hospital including; breast, colon, blood, gastrointestinal, gynaecological and lung cancers
The St James's, Tallaght University Hospital, Trinity Alliance for Research (STTAR)
Professor Orla Hardiman’s group in Trinity College Dublin and Beaumont hospital is currently operating two biobanks to collect samples for research into understanding and treating motor neurone disease (MND)/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Professor Eleanor Molloy’s research group in Trinity College currently runs a biobank held on St James’ Campus in association with the three Maternity hospitals and Children’s hospitals in Dublin.
- The Trinity Biobank
The Trinity Biobank was established in 2004 to facilitate processing, storage and distribution of biospecimens related to clinical and epidemiological research undertaken in Trinity College-St James’s Hospital.