IZSAM within the network of veterinary biobank

In Italy a network of 5 Experimental Zooprofilactic Institutes (IIZZSS) is collaborating to maintain and develop a veterinary biobank - http://biowarehouse.net - where samples of the main animal pathologies are stored, including the zoonoses. The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe), the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte, della Liguria e della Valle D’Aosta (IZSTO), the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise (IZSAM) and the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia are part of the network, which is co-ordinated by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell’Emilia-Romagna (IZSLER).

The network of Italian IIZZSS constitutes the first biobank in the veterinary field and was recognised during the 82° General Session of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) hold in May 2014, as official OIE Collaborating Centre for this kind of activity.

Over the years, biobanks are becoming an important resource for biomedical research as the availability of samples (tissues, cells, serums) has allowed the development of scientific studies in relevant fields of medicine, e.g. in genomics. The aim of the biobank is to make biological materials and data accessible to the scientific community. The added value resides in the fact that the stored samples and their data can be used by many researchers for multiple aims. Therefore through biobanks a maximum result can be obtained from the same set of samples. This mechanism promotes and facilitates considerably the sharing of resources and data.

 According to OMS, in the past 10 years approximatively 75% of the new diseases in humans were caused by pathogens present in animals or in their products. Also the globalization has favoured a wide and rapid spread of animals and their products, contributing to the spread of the pathogens. Those data highlight the importance of studying and analyse in depth the role of the animal "reservoir" in maintaining and spreading pathogens, which are responsible for human diseases. With this in mind, it comes out very clearly that the biobank exists also to promote the concept of one health.