MNB - michigan neonatal biobank

Van Andel Research Institute (Michigan) researchers have developed a method that can yield more information from archived newborn blood that has implications for a vast array of research, including population health studies and answering questions about diseases in infants and children.

In a study published in Pathology International, Van Andel researchers detected approximately 9,000 activated genes in samples from adult blood spots on Guthrie cards that had been archived anywhere from six months to three years. Their modified method uses commercially available tools and can be easily adopted by others in the scientific community for use on newborn blood spots.

Genetic material in blood from Guthrie cards has been presumed to be degraded because of varying storage conditions. Showing that mRNA is reasonably well preserved in archived filter paper blood spots, whether frozen or not, opens up a very important avenue for clinical and translational research. “Genetic information from Guthrie cards is a valuable resource,” said former Van Andel Distinguished Scientific Investigator Jim Resau, Ph.D. “It opens doors to examine risk factors and potentially diagnose diseases before the clinical features are present.”

Bulletin Board

The next meeting of the Community Values Advisory Board is scheduled for September 9, 2013.
Michigan Neonatal Biobank has in excess of 1.7 million dry blood spot cards in inventory.
The Carls Foundation has generously awarded a grant to the Michigan Neonatal Biobank to fund the continuing development of Biobank inventory in the coming year.
Nine Biobank Assistants have been accepted to Medical School during the past three years and six others are preparing for careers in medical related fields.
The Michigan Neonatal Biobank is a member of ISBER.
NIEHS recently announced two funding opportunities that can make use of neonatal dried blood spot samples, PA-12-184 and PA-12-185. See the NIEHS website for further details.
The NIA and NICHD announced a new funding opportunity that looks at juvenile protective factors and their effect on aging. Principal Investigators could potentially use neonatal dried blood spots as part of a study under this announcement. See PAR-12-218
Seven research studies are currently using dried blood spots provided by the Michigan Neonatal Biobank. The studies center on some of the most intractable health issues for children: congenital heart defects, autism, cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy and sudden infant death syndrome.
The Michigan BioTrust for Health is the Michigan Department of Community Health’s initiative to make leftover newborn screening samples more useful and available for approved medical or public health research.
The NIH and CDC recently announced funding opportunities for Research to Advance Vaccine Safety. See PA-12-037 (R01) and PA-12-038 (R21)

Biobank Images

Paul Kilgore

Pharmacy and Health Science Wayne State University visited The Biobank recently

Funding Opportunities

PA13-216, PA13-217, PA13-218 Research on Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders
PAR-12-218 Juvenile Protective Factors and Their Effects on Aging
PA-12-184, PA-12-185 Role of Environmental Chemical Exposures in the Development of Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome
NOT-TR-13-004 Watch for an upcoming FOA for the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Consortia
PAR-13-109 Mechanistic Insights from Birth Cohorts (R01)
PA-12-037 (R01) AND PA-12-038 (R21) Research to Advance Vaccine Safety
RFA-TW-13-002 Research on the Role of Epigenetics in Social, Behavioral, Environmental and Biological Relationships, throughout the Life-Span and across Generations (R21)