Ayurveda Biobank and The National Heart Failure Biobank

Relevance

• GS 3: Awareness in the fields of biotechnology.

Context

• Union Ayush Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal visited All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) and assured all help to establish the first Bio-Bank of the world in Ayurveda at AIIA.

Key points

• He also inaugurated Multi-Purpose Yoga Hall & Mini Auditorium.
• He assured full-fledged support for further development of the Institute to make it world’s best Ayurveda Institute.
• At the Blood Bank, he advised to further deepen research on auto immune diseases and Leukaemia.

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What is a bio bank?

• A biobank is a collection of biological samples (such as blood) and contains other health information.
• It can be used to understand molecular pathways and to improve the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of various diseases.

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National Heart Failure Biobank

• The first National Heart Failure Biobank (NHFB) in the country was inaugurated at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST).
  • The storage facilities include -20, -80-degree mechanical freezers and a liquid nitrogen storage system which can store bio-samples at -140 degrees perpetually for years. Currently, there are facilities to store nearly 25000 bio-samples.
  • It would benefit the heart failure patients
  • The biobank will provide insights into heart diseases and heart failure among Indian children and adults, which are very different from that seen in the West.
  • The increase in the observed prevalence of long-COVID symptoms and post-COVID heart failure calls for long-COVID clinics to collect patient data and biospecimens that can be biobank for future research.
  • Through the NHFB, researchers can get access to well-annotated biological specimens linked to clinical data while maintaining appropriate standards of quality and security.
  • The samples are collected after informed consent from patients who are willing to donate specimens.

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