Bio-medical research into human diseases requires large volumes of samples, reflecting the diversity of human populations. Biobanks are recognised as the optimal structures for storing human biological samples, from both ‘healthy’ people and those linked with disease diagnosis, while meeting the stringent legal and ethical requirements which guarantee human rights.
The establishment of a Biobank is vital to the research and training capacity of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine. The facility supports the work of Institute’s priority research areas, including across both infectious and chronic diseases, and facilitates new research within these areas, and with external research institutions.
The Biobank provides greater opportunity for samples to be used for cross-disciplinary research between groups to address health issues in the Tropics. The biobank has been strategic in providing leverage for generating projects for the Institute's research groups which will, in turn, increase the utility of the biobank and further capacity.
External engagement and partnerships have been pivotal to the development of the Biobank at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine. A solid partnership with the Tropical Australian Academic Health Centre initiative enables the Biobank as an available in-kind resource for the Centre's participating health and hospital service members. These include five Northern Queensland Hospital and Health Services: Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service , Mackay Hospital and Health Service, North West Hospital and Health Service, Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service , Townsville Hospital and Health Service in collaboration with the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network and James Cook University Active collaboration is also underway with the Sunshine Coast Hospital, to use the Biobank facility. Further, staff from the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute working with communities are collecting samples on Palm Island for Indigenous health that will use our Institute's facilities for processing, leading to further links with research supporting Indigenous health issues.
To date, the Biobank project has completed the physical infrastructure to establish a cold storage biobank, and resources include physical and software programs. Ethical approval for Phase 1 of the ATIHM Biobank was obtained in February 2017, and recruitment of participants from the general community can now commence. This will include those already involved in AITHM projects, healthy controls and people belonging to specific groups which may be of future interest for AITHM research.
Approval also covers the possibility of rolling over current samples, held within individual research groups, into the Biobank.
Queensland Health sites require Site Specific Approvals (SSA) before recruitment can begin. The SSA application is underway for the Townsville Hospital and Health Services, with others to follow as required. Research agreements between participating institutions and JCU must also be completed.
Phase 2 of the AITHM Biobank, will specifically involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Extensive engagement with these communities has begun, with community support necessary before an application for approval of this phase. Critical work is underway with Townsville Hospital’s Indigenous Liaison unit and the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics (NCIG) to ensure individual and community consent is sought for research work, and to establish policies and procedures for the ethically acceptable collection, storage and use of biological material collected from Indigenous communities.
