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(Photo: The Canadian Press)
$300,000 biorepository project

Alberta begins saving COVID-19 samples for research

Jun 5, 2020 | 12:45 PM

The Alberta government says health partners are building a safe biorepository to preserve COVID-19 samples long-term to support world-class medical research in combatting the virus.

In a release, the province says the new biorepository is now safely collecting, cataloguing and storing samples in sophisticated refrigeration equipment.

There will be two hubs – one at the University of Alberta and the other at the University of Calgary.

“Research in how to test for, treat and prevent COVID-19 is essential to our healthy future,” says Health Minister Tyler Shandro. “I commend all the partners on collaborating to make this happen, and I assure all Albertans that the biorepository poses no risk to public health.”

Dozens of Alberta-based researchers working on more than 30 Alberta research projects need the COVID-19 samples to explore things like rapid point-of-care testing, drugs, antibody testing, and genome sequencing. Some studies involve collaborations with scientists across North America.

The province says the $300,000 biorepository is a partnership among Calgary Health Trust, University Hospital Foundation, Alberta Cancer Foundation, Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation. Alberta Health Services and its subsidiary, Alberta Precision Laboratories, will fund operations and maintenance.