Welcome! The Michigan Neonatal Biobank ("Biobank") is a storage and management facility for the Michigan Department of Community Health's archive of dried blood spots. With temperature and humidity controlled space for more than six million blood spot cards the Biobank can house samples representing forty-four years of Michigan births.

Over the last decade there has been considerable interest in examining the potential usefulness of these residual dried blood spots for research and public health surveillance. The importance of saving the specimens for further use as an important public health resource was recognized by the Michigan Commission on Genetic Privacy and Progress convened by Governor John Engler in 1997. More recently, the Michigan Department of Community Health, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Michigan Public Health Institute, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, the Van Andel Institute and others, has taken steps to identify the utility of residual dried blood spots and the infrastructure needed to support more widespread availability of dried blood spots for public health and medical research.