CoVaRR-Net Biobank: an essential resource for pandemic preparedness

The CoVaRR-Net Biobank and Data Platform have been game-changers by enabling rapid sharing of biological samples, resources, and data related to SARS-CoV-2 among researchers across Canada. They were created to assist in answering important questions about emerging new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern during this prolonged public health crisis and are ready to pivot to help answer questions about any future pathogen or other threats to human health.

Biobanks are important and can be extremely useful outside of pandemics. “Biobanks allow researchers to do retrospective studies to determine when a pathogen was first detected in the population, or when a relative emerged,” says Dr. Angela M. Crawley, CoVaRR-Net Biobank Director, Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Associate Professor, University of Ottawa. “Immune responses can be measured over long stretches of time and when a new pathogen emerges, samples can be immediately ready as negative or baseline controls to set up new diagnostic tests.”

At the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, biobanks in Canada were not designed, set up or connected in a way that allowed for rapid sharing of biological samples and data across the scientific community. “Research was happening across the country in a very siloed way. Many of the biobanks before the pandemic were independent entities created to host samples to study specific diseases, projects, and participant cohorts,” says Dr. Crawley. “They were not designed to support the rapid needs of an emerging epidemic or pandemic.”

That turned out to be a huge problem. Systemic barriers to Canadian researchers needing to rapidly share samples and data contributed to delays in the national response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A general lack of readiness within the research infrastructure contributed to a slow response in terms of available treatments, population-wide pathogen detection, infection control measures in healthcare facilities, public health measures in communities, and domestic vaccine availability. Moreover, there were generally no pandemic standard operating procedures to accelerate sample sharing and expedited contracts and ethical reviews.

To fill these gaps, CoVaRR-Net prioritized setting up the foundational features of a networked biobanking and data sharing infrastructure to cater to its research environment, operating in line with the highest standards of practice in the field. “The CoVaRR-Net Biobank’s ability to integrate and share samples and data in this way was disruptive and novel, and it’s very needed in this pandemic and to be prepared for any future infectious disease threats,” says Dr. Crawley. “This capacity supports academic researchers to quickly and effectively share resources and relay in real-time, data, information and recommendations to public health officials to benefit the health of Canadians.”

A key to a strong pandemic preparedness plan

“Our goal is to continue building the Biobank’s infrastructure and capacity to be prepared to deal with the next pandemic or health emergency. We are actively transitioning operations towards pandemic preparedness biobanking by expanding our national sampling, surveillance, and analysis to include other emerging microbial threats,” says Dr. Crawley. “We are also building capacity to be able to work in tandem with other international biobanking efforts like the UK biobank and US preparedness activities in this space.”

“Canada needs to invest in pandemic preparedness through permanent support of biobanking initiatives such as the CoVaRR-Net Biobank, which are vital because they enable rapid, effective, and efficient microbial surveillance. We don’t want to waste what we’ve built and rebuild something new when there is the next public health crisis. We now have a unique resource that is well-positioned to facilitate timely responses to major infectious outbreaks and the next threat of pandemic proportions,” says Dr. Raphael Saginur, CoVaRR-Net Biobank Bioethics Co-Director and Chair of the Ottawa Health Science Network Research Ethics Board.

The Biobank team has also made important linkages to the CoVaRR-Net Wastewater Surveillance Research Group (WWSRG), seeking to align viral detection signals in wastewater samples with serology measures in locally collected blood specimens, by merging inventory databases and their associated laboratory results. “The ability to integrate information from environmental signals to that of biological signals can be incredibly useful and it is part of the boutique of offerings we aim to include,” says Dr. Crawley. This is proving that useful, actionable science knowledge can be driven by smart biobanking and data management.

A unique national biobank that accelerates access to biological materials and data

To overcome traditional barriers and facilitate the rapid sharing of biological samples, reagents and data, the CoVaRR-Net Biobank developed a novel Universal Data and Biological Materials Transfer Agreement (UDBMTA) with the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. More than 30 Canadian research institutions have signed on and all CoVaRR-Net Biobank participants are connected through the UDBMTA. “This agreement has worked very well. Large-scale studies are much more feasible and researchers who required additional specimens for studies of vulnerable populations have used the contract to advance their research,” says Dr. Saginur.

An important initiative of the CoVaRR-Net Biobank is the Canadian COVID-19 Biobank and Data Alliance, which brings together other biobanks located across the country, amounting to an estimated 400,000+ samples, including the CoVaRR-Net Biobank’s inventory, most of which comprise longitudinal data collected from over 40,000 Canadians. The Alliance aims to continue as a national preparedness biobanking organization to support rapid response research in Canada, in both “peace times” (interpandemic) and “emergency times” when there is an emerging threat to human health. The Alliance is supported by CoVaRR-Net’s data infrastructure.

“The power of the Alliance is demonstrated by partners coming together, sharing their data and samples to collaborate on research projects,” says Dr. Amy Hsu, CoVaRR-Net Data Platform Director, Chair in Primary Health Care in Dementia, uOttawa Brain and Mind-Bruyère Research Institute and Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa.

The Data Platform: an easily accessible research resource linking biobanks across Canada

The CoVaRR-Net Data Platform supports the storage and management of metadata associated with the samples held by the CoVaRR-Net Biobank, as well as those that can be requested from biobank partners who are part of the Alliance. “The mandate of the Data Platform is to make it easier for Canadian researchers to collect and share data, as well as biological specimens that have been collected during the pandemic, and we have the capacity to facilitate data sharing for pandemic preparedness biobanking,” says Dr. Hsu.

“Our catalogue enables researchers and collaborators to quickly query and share information pertaining to collected biological material within CoVaRR-Net, as well as across our biobank partners. We’ll be launching our public dashboard early in the new year, which will make it easy for researchers and public health partners to search the sample repository catalogue and database and tailor queries to their specific research needs,” she explains.

Learn more

The CoVaRR-Net Biobank collects, stores, and distributes longitudinal and comprehensive clinical data, specimens for pathogen studies, and biological samples for host responses and immunological studies.

Specimens are collected from relevant populations of interest and include blood cells, plasma, serum, saliva, nasal swabs, viruses, research reagents, and wastewater.

The Biobank offers access to supportive laboratory studies for researchers and industry to query, including cell-based assay and biomarker quantification. Its model is adaptable to basic research, clinical studies, as well as clinical trial platforms.

Learn more about the CoVaRR-Net Biobank and Data Platform