The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a crisis of extraordinary proportions, with serious impacts on public health worldwide, requiring initiatives in record time. Thus, structures for preserving biological materials, widely referred to as Biobanks, have become fundamental since they enable the design and conduct of research and clinical trials related to COVID-19, regardless of the geographical location of the biological specimens.
At the forefront of the health emergency, biobanks played a key role in understanding COVID-19, contributing to the collection, processing, storage, and analysis of clinical samples and associated data from individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Throughout the pandemic, biological materials and data stored in biobanks allowed researchers to develop evidence-based strategies, design treatment protocols, and make predictions based on precision medicine.
In this context, Fiocruz's COVID-19 Biobank (BC19-Fiocruz) was launched in December 2021 as one of the initiatives of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation to combat the COVID-19 pandemic to centralize the storage of human biological material and biodiversity (viruses) related to COVID-19.
In accordance with internationally recommended quality, biosafety, and biosecurity standards, BC19-Fiocruz was designed in line with the ABNT NBR ISO 20387:2020 standard, which specifies the general international requirements for any and all biobanking activities.
With the end of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern and the need to store Human Biological Material related to other public health problems and emergencies and other viruses of taxonomic, epidemiological, and biotechnological interest, on October 26, 2023, the Fiocruz Deliberative Council (CD-Fiocruz) approved the proposal to expand the scope of action and changed the name to Fiocruz Biodiversity and Health Biobank (BBS-Fiocruz). BBS-Fiocruz constitutes an important service platform for research, technological development, and innovation in the health field.