The first National Heart Failure Biobank (NHFB) in the country that would collect blood, biopsies, and clinical data as a guide to future therapies was inaugurated at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST). The biobank will provide insights into heart diseases and heart failure among Indian children and adults, which are very different from that seen in the West.
The principal investigator of the project and Prof. of cardiology at SCTIMST, Dr. Harikrishnan S, informed that the storage facilities include-20, -80-degree mechanical freezers and a liquid nitrogen storage system which can store bio-samples at – 140 degrees perpetually for years. Currently, there are facilities to store nearly 25000 biosamples.
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