Biobanks store human biological materials, like blood or tissue, for biomedical research. Research on stored specimens helped develop vaccines or understand origins of diseases like Ebola and tuberculosis. At DDI, we gather specimens from our research projects and store them in the NDDB in hopes to understand diabetes. Our samples allow us to recognize the genetic components of diabetes, its development and interactions, to someday discover drugs or develop a personalized approach to medicine.
The National Dasman Diabetes Biobank (NDDB) offers DDI and collaborators repository services to conduct short and long-term research projects related to diabetes and its complications.
Our Services
The NDDB’s wide range of services include sample processing and fractionation, storage, testing and nucleic acid isolation, among others. The NDDB is a member of the European, Middle Eastern and African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking. It is a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory which specializes in the processing of blood and other body fluids, tissue samples (for histology and immunohistochemistry purposes) and cell culture.
More about our services
Our National Dasman Diabetes Biobank (NDDB) Core Facility stores various biological samples and is available internally to researchers and collaborators. NDDB can also store and process samples for external research institutions or individuals for potential use. Researchers can utilize the Biobank for its highly specialized facility that offers long term storage and protection of valuable research materials.
We operate on standardized and certified protocols. It has restricted access and is equipped with a security control to ensure that all storage of biological samples, their confidentiality and their traceability are in accordance with the best practices and ethical regulations. The NDDB team has the expertise to investigate, create and implement new ideas and procedures to meet the investigator’s/collaborator’s needs.
The NDDB Core Facility provides the following services for the investigators/collaborators:
- Pre-analytical sample preparation and handling (time and temperature before and after separation; suitable centrifugation and storage for analytical purposes)
- High quality sample processing under standardized storage conditions (includes processing of blood components; Plasma, Serum, PBMCs and whole blood)
- Nucleic acid extraction from fresh and frozen blood, saliva, buccal swab and tissue samples
- Human and animal tissue processing and histology services tailored to the unique needs of research projects (equipped with cryostat, microtome, tissue microarray, automated and manual slide scanner)
- Paraffin and frozen histology specimens
- Immunohistochemistry (automated and manual)
- Data management, statistical analysis and guidance
- Equipped with -80° ultra-low temperature freezers, liquid nitrogen storage facility
What do we offer?
Our facility provides services for investigators and collaborators. We also participate in research projects by collecting, processing and ultimately storing samples for long term use.
