The Covid-19 pandemic created a crisis of extraordinary proportions, with severe global public health impacts, requiring action in record time. Thus, structures for the preservation of biological materials, widely referred to as Biobanks, become fundamental as they enable the design and conduct research and clinical trials related to Covid-19 regardless of the geographic location of the biological specimens.
At the forefront of the health emergency, biobanks play a key role in understanding Covid-19 by contributing to the collection, processing, storage and analysis of clinical samples and associated data from individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2. In the course of the current pandemic, the biological materials and data stored in biobanks allow researchers to develop evidence-based strategies, design treatment protocols, and make predictions based on precision medicine.
In this context, the Fiocruz Covid-19 Biobank (BC19-Fiocruz) was structured with the objective of centralizing the storage of human and non-human biological material (viruses) related to Covid-19.
Following internationally recommended standards of quality, biosafety, and biosecurity, BC19-Fiocruz was designed complying with the ABNT NBR ISO 20387:2020 standard, which specifies the general international requirements for any and all biobank activities.