Krzysztof Kiryluk and Wendy Chung - April 8, 2020

Krzysztof Kiryluk, MD, and Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, COVID19 Biobank Update

The COVID-19 Biobank, part of the Columbia University Biobank, is working to remotely recruit all COVID-19 patients at CUIMC and to collect all discarded bio-specimens after routine clinical testing. Remote consenting was approved and recruiting began on 4/3/20 with dozens of patients already consented. Over 20 coordinators are being trained for these efforts. Phenotype workgroups have been created and through collaboration with DBMI, EHR data is being connected with the samples. The Biobank has received several requests for COVID-19 patient samples. Initial feedback on applications for samples will soon be processed. Delivery of specimens will depend on types of samples requested. In general, samples like serum plasma and urine will be relatively accessible. New or more limited samples will be more difficult to attain and labs conducting similar work may be asked to coordinate their efforts. Genomics data will also be coming soon that will include multiple host and virus assays.