Thank you for your interest in the NICB. Your participation will allow researchers to address many key questions in COVID-19 research and we are grateful for your time and donation of your biological samples and healthcare information.
If you have any further questions or are interested in participating in the NICB, please contact us via our contact page.
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Your samples & data
How samples & data are collected, stored and accessed:
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Projects
Projects that have been approved to receive NICB samples and data:
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Publications
A list of publications can be found here:
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Public Engagement
NICB PPI Advisory Board
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Links
NICB documents:
How samples & information (data) are collected, stored and accessed:
What is a Biobank? A biobank is a collection of biological samples (such as blood samples, nasopharyngeal swabs, urine samples etc) and healthcare information (data), donated by people for health research.
The National Irish COVID-19 Biobank is collecting biological samples and healthcare information from people who currently have COVID-19 (at the time of taking the blood sample), who have recovered from COVID-19 or who are attending hospital with Long Covid. The NICB will also include some people who do not have/have never had COVID-19 such as people receiving COVID-19 vaccines as well as hospital staff so that we can look for differences that will tell us more about how people respond to infection.
We will initially be inviting people to participate in the NICB who are in-patients in hospital or attending an out-patient hospital clinic.
The N ICB will also seek to incorporate existing COVID-19 sample collections from the last few years to make the biobank even more robust and relevant.
Samples:
Biological samples will be processed in a University laboratory and stored in a specific NICB-controlled freezer. The NICB has 5 sample storage locations which are under the custodianship of the University partners. These are:
Trinity College Dublin (biobank location is Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, St James’s Hospital, Dublin 8)
University College Dublin (biobank location is the Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research, Belfield, UCD)
Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland (biobank location is Department of Pathology, RCSI, Beaumont Hospital Campus)
University College Cork (biobank location is Western Gateway Building, UCC)
National University of Ireland, Galway (biobank location is the Lambe Institute, NUI Galway, University Hospital Galway Campus)
If you attend a hospital that is not one of the 5 biobank locations (above), your sample will be transported by an authorised courier to one of these locations according to an agreed transfer route. See map.
Figure 1: NICB Sample Storage Locations
Information (data):
The NICB will store coded healthcare information, and any research results at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) on a secure server. Coding is where information that might identify you (such as your name) has been replaced with a unique code (for example - NICB 001). This means you cannot be directly identified from the information. Coded information will be entered by a clinical research team at the hospital site onto the NICB database. The database is built and managed by Trinity College Dublin staff, using a REDCap online platform.
Figure 2: How your information and samples will be collected and stored in the NICB
Who can access the samples and information?
The NICB has developed very strict procedures for who can access the coded information and samples in the NICB. In order to access coded information or samples in the NICB, researchers must:
Apply to the Access Committee of the NICB; and
Get ethical approval from an independent research ethics committee; and
Sign and adhere to a legal contract outlining how the NICB information and/or samples are to be used and kept confidential.
This 3-step process is the same whether the researcher works for a university or a health-related commercial company and ensures that sharing is limited to research which is in the wider public interest. Any use of your coded information and samples must respect the consent that you have given.
How sample and information access is approved and shared
Projects that have been approved to receive NICB samples and information:
Only projects relating to COVID-19 research will be approved to receive NICB coded information and samples. Furthermore, research projects will only be approved if they align with one of NICB’s Strategic Research Prioritisation Areas. These are currently Long Covid, Therapeutics and Vaccine Response.
Summaries of COVID-19 research projects that have been approved to receive coded information and samples from NICB will be listed here:
Note: At the current time, NICB is not ready to accept applications from researchers (April 2024)
Research Publications:
All researchers who are approved to access information and samples will be required to acknowledge the NICB in their scientific publications. A list of publications can be found here:
Public Engagement:
We are currently recruiting for a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Advisory Board who will bring the voice and perspective of patients and the public,
independent of specific causes, to contribute to shaping NICB’s activities.
If you are interested in joining the NICB PPI Advisory Board, please complete an Expression of Interest form which can be found here: https://forms.office.com/e/GXy8GqUFay
To learn more about the PPI Advisory Board, please follow this link: https://shorturl.at/fCPU4
Links to NICB documents:
Participant Information Leaflets:
For participants recruited from November 2023 - to date:
All hospitals are using the same leaflet, to view the leaflet click here
For participants recruited between December 2022-October 2023: