Biospecimen Collection Grants

The purpose of the Sydney Sleep Biobank (SSB) is to create a research platform that can support a diverse range of research initiatives to better understand sleep health and its link to chronic diseases, leading to advances in Precision Sleep Medicine. As sleep interacts with a range of other diseases (cardiovascular, metabolic, cancer, neurocognitive), whole blood collection is vital to understanding these interactions and has the potential to make advances across a number of priority health areas. Competitive advantages of the SSB include access to high clinical activity across busy NSW Hospitals with world class clinical sleep programs, unique high-throughput phenotypic tools, establishment of processes for data linkage, and access to state of the art data science capabilities.

The Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Laboratory Services (at the NSWHP-ICPMR, Westmead) in conjunction with The National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network), has collected a series of population, age and location matched serum biobanks since 1996.

These samples are used to determine immunity or past infection to a range of vaccine preventable diseases. The results guide government vaccination policies for children and adults. They can also be used to identify the rates in the community of infection with new or emerging pathogens, assisting public health responses and improving the understanding of new infections.

A strategic goal of the Australia and New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology clinical trials group, ANZGOG, is to build capacity for translational research by supporting the collection of biospecimens associated with allANZGOG trials. This grant will support collection of biospecimens from NSW Health Pathology (NSWHP) centres, biospecimen processing, storage and dissemination to maximize the use of biospecimens through research. The ability to further interrogate biospecimens associated from clinical trials will add enormous value to the contributions that patients have made by identifying biomarkers associated with good treatment response and those associated with resistance, thereby contributing to implementation of new treatments and design of future trials.

We have established a large, well characterized study of patients with biobanked blood +/- tissue and imaging data (BioHEART), to address the question being asked by the increasing number of heart attack patients who are asking “why me”? This grant will support the extension of this from the ~1500 subjects currently recruited under the protocol, to ~7000, and will facilitate the discovery of new mechanisms and markers of both coronary disease susceptibility, as well as resilience using state-of-the artmetabolomics/proteomics/genomics. The resource and the anonymized data will be valuable for a broad range of researchers in NSW and beyond.

The 45 and Up Study cohort, comprising over 267,000 Australians, offers a unique opportunity to leverage detailed health records spanning 15 years via data linkage, combined with cutting edge genomics data and blood biomarker analysis. We will perform a series of studies to examine the health outcomes and trajectories of individuals from the 45 and Up Study with bipolar disorder, and who have increased rates of many other common medical conditions, to aid both diagnosis and treatment. This research has the potential for development of stratified interventions, tailored treatment and improved prognosis for people living with this severe psychiatric illness.

More information:
https://www.neura.edu.au/

This application represents a consortium of clinicians and researchers from NSW Health Pathology, WSLHD and Westmead Institute for Medical Research aiming to integrate the existing microbial collections to create a state-wide dedicated repository with a standardised governance as basis for diagnostics, epidemiology and research of human microbial pathogens, bio-surveillance and biosecurity, an under-researched area. An integrated interdisciplinary biobank enables a substantial improvement of the state’s research capacity. The integrated microbial biobank will be the fundamental resource for the extended demand of reference materials, genomics and surveillance of microbial pathogens from clinicians and researchers across the NSW-Newcastle region and beyond.

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia. The provision of this grant will establish an Australia-first NSW-wide brain clot bank that would allow improved diagnostic pathways and opportunities for research in stroke patients. Brain clots retrieved after mechanical procedures will be collected as part of the clot bank. The emergence of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) has significantly improved standards of care and outcomes in ischemic stroke patients and opened doors to critically examine brain clots retrieved after the procedure.

Over 7 million Australians have musculoskeletal conditions. While drug development has produced biologic therapies that can improve symptoms, these drugs do not cure, there is no clear evidence base for predicting who needs them or will respond, they are expensive, and pose serious side effects. This A3BC is a network of scientists & doctors for improving treatments and outcomes for people living with arthritic and autoimmune conditions and ultimately finding ways to prevent and cure them. We need to study a wide range of health data and samples from a large population to allow the latest computer analyses to answer these important questions.

More information:
https://a3bc.org.au/

The Sydney Catalyst ‘Embedding Research (and Evidence) in Cancer Healthcare – EnRICH’ program is a prospective clinical cohort of 1000 patients with lung cancer, which aims to better define, treat and care for patients in Sydney Catalyst member hospitals, and to provide infrastructure for translational cancer research. The program is capturing diagnostic tumour specimens and serial blood samples for molecular and biomarker studies, with matched demographic, clinical and outcome data (including patient reported outcomes) to answer defined program core research questions, and support further translational research in lung cancer in NSW through linked sub-studies.

More information:
https://sydneycatalyst.org.au/

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common, fatal genetic mutation in the Australian population. It results in defective function of a crucial protein that leads to thick sticky mucus. This builds up in the lungs and other organs, causing recurring infections and eventually premature death. New medications that improve the working of this protein are about to become available. This proposal will collect blood, sputum and tissue from all the CF clinics in NSW, during the introduction of these drugs. Clinical data is already captured on a national data registry the Australian CF data registry. This will then be a powerful tool to better understand disease progression in CF and assess the impact of novel treatments and determine in whom they work best.

More information:
https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research-and-innovation/centre/card/about-us