The IRBLleida biobank obtains more than 200,000 euros in funding to offer services to the research community

The Biobank of the Lleida Institute for Biomedical Research (IRBLleida) has obtained more than 200,000 euros in funding thanks to the ISCIII (Instituto de Salud Carlos III) support platforms for R&D in Biomedicine and Health Sciences 2020. This aid will enable the biobank to offer services to the research community while maintaining its quality standards. The total amount is 205,700 euros in three years, according to the provisional resolution published today.

The IRBLleida biobank, under the direction of the Head of the Pathological Anatomy Service of the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital of Lleida (HUAV), Professor of Pathological Anatomy of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lleida (UdL) and head of the Oncological Pathology research group at IRBLleida, Xavier Matias-Guiu, is the unit responsible for managing the samples and associated data for research. Its management task, which is coordinated by Maria Ruiz Miró, includes all the processes of reception, processing, storage and making the biological samples available to the scientific community, guaranteeing the quality of the samples and their traceability at all times in compliance with current legislation.

"This assistance allows us to consolidate the Unit to continue supporting IRBLleida's research groups, which are involved in projects of international scope. It is also a recognition of the work done by the Biobank, which has been operating with constant support from the public administration since 2004" said the head of the Biobank.

An ISCIII Platform of Support to R&D in Biomedicine and Health Sciences provides transversal support services, with the highest scientific-technical quality, in the research community, under criteria of efficiency, territorial equity, prioritization of the needs of the health system, transparency, and responsible governance. To this end, it brings together a group of professionals and infrastructures from different institutions, working in a coordinated manner to achieve the objectives established in its action plan.

The Carlos III Health Institute offers different calls for research support. In the case of this call, only accredited research centres, such as IRBLleida, could access it. This call coincides with the reorientation of the ISCIII platforms to face three major challenges. On the one hand, it aims to provide one of the necessary links in the generation of industrial value. Secondly, it provides the necessary distribution and geographical cohesion of access to scientific-technical services and collaboration in the development of high-level projects. Finally, these platforms are born with the perspective set out in the Horizon Europe programme, with the aim of making our groups more competitive in the new programme.