Our Hospital, Our StoriesSafely saving COVID-19 samples for research
Posted on: Jun 02, 2020The Royal Alexandra Hopsital Foundation is proud to partner with other local health foundations to build a safe biorepository to preserve COVID-19 samples long-term, to support world-class medical research in combatting COVID-19.
Health partners are building a safe biorepository to preserve COVID-19 samples long-term, to support world-class medical research in combatting COVID-19.
The new biorepository is now collecting, cataloguing and storing samples in sophisticated refrigeration equipment. There will be two hubs at the universities of Alberta and Calgary.
“Research in how to test for, treat and prevent COVID-19 is essential to our healthy future. 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,” said Tyler Shandro, Minister of Health
“We are thinking about the future and about deeper study of the coronavirus through clinical and academic research. We are extremely grateful to our foundation partners for their contribution towards this project that will benefit Albertans today and for years to come,” said Dr. Verna Yiu, AHS President and CEO.
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.
Building the $300,000 biorepository is a partnership among the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation Calgary Health Trust, University Hospital Foundation, Alberta Cancer Foundation, Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. Alberta Health Services and its subsidiary, Alberta Precision Laboratories, will fund operations and maintenance.
“The Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation and our donors know that research is the only path forward to improve treatments, and prevention for current and future outbreaks. We are proud to partner with our health teams and with our provincial health foundation colleagues to increase the speed and effectiveness of this work during this critical time,” said Sharlene Rutherford, President and CEO of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation.
Alberta has a comprehensive response to COVID-19 including measures to enhance social distancing, screening and testing. Financial supports are helping Alberta families and businesses.
