Millions of human Bio-samples. Blood, stool and urine for up to minus 180 degrees frozen – and of robots guarded. In oberschleissheim near Munich, is Germany’s largest stock stands for human biological samples.
The “Nako Biorepository” of the Helmholtz centre in Munich was opened on Wednesday officially. “A treasure for the German research and science,” said the scientific Director of the Helmholtz centre in Munich, Matthias Tschöp and of a “milestone”.
“The Problem of man is”
A total of approximately 21 million specimens in small test tubes to store frozen in huge Tanks at minus 80 or minus 180 degrees Celsius. Is cooled with nitrogen. The advantage of this is that the Tanks can hold their temperature for up to two weeks, should be current. “The greatest Level of caution,” said Andreas Hörlein, head of the new Biobank.
The warehouse is fully automated. And when you need it again looking for the samples of the computer to be sorted is controlled by a robot. “The Problem of man is,” said Annette Peters, Director of the Institute for epidemiology at the Helmholtz Zentrum. “When you Sort the robots are superior.”
“A sample memory of superlatives,” said John Eberle, from the Bavarian Ministry of science in the Agency for his Boss, Minister Kiechle. In the vault of the large amounts of sample can be stored for up to 30 years. A comparable institution in Germany.
Great insights to common diseases are expected
The samples, which are now in Munich in the giant refrigerator, are from the Nako health study, a nationwide study with 200,000 participants between the ages of 20 and 69 years of age, the started 2014. Eberle called the 30-year study, which will cost in ten years, around 255 million Euro, “the Central project of the epidemiological research in Germany” and a “contribution to the health of future generations”.
His Boss, Kiechle stated: “We need to find answers to the pressing questions of our time.” From the Nako-health study offers many valuable insights for early detection and prevention of common diseases. Because the aim of the study is to understand the emergence of diseases such as cancer, Diabetes or heart attack better, and to find out why the is a hospital and the other remains healthy, and how do genetic predisposition and environmental factors.
“We want to answer for example the question of why the proportion of diabetics in the North-East of Germany is twice as high as in the southwest,” said Peters, who is also Chairman of the Nako health study, which was originally called the “National cohort”, after irritation but has been renamed.
New questions for science
The scientists have with the bearing in the upper oberschleißheim now a “new responsibility for data and biological samples,” said Peters. The samples and the addresses of the subjects would, for example, and stored separately, to ensure that the results come in wrong hands.
The researchers hope the study and the large, centrally mounted on the sample volume, further steps on the path to personalised medicine, the risk analyzed factors for each Individual on the basis of the data from his blood, urine, stool and other examination results. In order for diseases to be in the best of cases identified before they even occur.
“The science points to the fact issues that were actually reserved so far, the philosophy. How much can I determine how much is already determined?“, Peters said. Totally unclear, a financing for every single human being is. How can it be ensured that not only rich people can afford to build forecasts, if and when you get cancer, or how high your personal heart attack risk? And what the insurance companies say?