Trinity Biobank Research Projects
The Biobank provides a range of services for colleagues and clients internally as well as for universities and research organisations internationally, including the provision of biobanking services, contract DNA extraction, peripheral blood mononuclear cell preparation and the design of biosample collection protocols. Material such as DNA is formatted for particular downstream analytical procedures.
The HAPO Study The Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) study was performed in response to the need for internationally agreed upon diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes, based upon their predictive value for adverse pregnancy outcome.
Rare Kidney Disease Registry and Biobank
(with Professor Mark Little) The RKD registry and Biobank was established in 2012 and addresses the need for a coordinated collaborative effort to study rare kidney disease in Ireland. This network coordinates the recruitment of such cases throughout Ireland as even large academic hospitals may only encounter a handful of cases. The majority of recruits have the rare disease ANCA vasculitis. The Irish Registry is linked with the pan-UK UKIVAS Initiative. Biological samples (serum, proteomic grade plasma, urine, leucocytes, RNA and DNA) are processed and stored centrally at the Biobank.
Narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease. Following specific influenza flu infections, the immune system confuses a portion of the flu virus with hypocretin-related proteins, leading to significant neuronal destruction in the brain. The onset of narcolepsy in young Irish children following vaccination with flu strain H1N1 2009 (Pandemrix) is being investigated by the Stanford Centre for Narcolepsy with whom we have cooperated in processing PBMCs and other samples from these children.
The Lipgene Project The primary focus of Lipgene is the interaction of nutrients and genotype in the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is the term used to describe a clustering of several risk factors for cardiovascular disease, namely obesity, abnormal blood lipids (e.g. high blood cholesterol & raised triglyceride levels), insulin resistance and high blood pressure (hypertension).
The TUDA Study (Trinity, University of Ulster and Department of Agriculture Study). A cross border all-Ireland research project which aims to create a genotype and phenotype database of 4,000 subjects over 60 years - 2,000 subjects with cognitive impairment and 2,000 with brittle bones were recruited, a further 2,000 subjects with hypertension were recruited from GP practices in Northern Ireland between 2009-2011. Detailed physical and cognitive assessments as well as biomarkers and genetic markers were collected. Information from this project will help identify genetic subtypes most likely to be affected by certain risk factors and ultimately help target treatments to those most likely to benefit from them.
TILDA The Irish LongituDinal Study on Ageing is a large-scale, nationally representative, longitudinal study on ageing in Ireland, the overarching aim of which is to make Ireland an even better place in which to grow old. TILDA collects information on all aspects of health, economic and social circumstances from people aged 50 and over in a series of data collection waves once every two years. TILDA is unique amongst longitudinal studies in the breadth of physical, mental health and cognitive measures collected. This data, together with the extensive social and economic data, makes TILDA one of the most comprehensive research studies of its kind both in Europe and internationally. The biological collection was recently moved in its entirety to the Biobank. Currently blood samples from the third Wave of the Project are being processed and duplicate samples are being stored at geographically distinct Biobank sites within Trinity College. Simultaneously, samples from a previous wave are being distributed to various research groups.
The Eureye Project The main objectives of the Eureye Project are to identify lifestyle and environmental determinants of age-related maculopathy and macular degeneration in the European setting, with a particular focus on solar radiation and diet (total fresh fruit and vegetable intake); to determine the prevalence of age-related maculopathy and age-related macular degeneration in the European population; to measure the impact of these conditions on vision-related quality of life. Through Queens University Belfast we undertook to extract 5000 blood samples from many countries in Europe for DNA and format for downstream applications.
Other users of the Facility
- The Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium (2000 control DNA samples were provided)
- University of Dundee
- The Commonwealth University of West Virginia, USA
- Growing Up In Ireland
- Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, Dublin 8
- The Genomic Research Group, Trinity
- The Neuropsychiatric Genetics Group, Trinity