Cleveland Clinic To Open Tissue Storage Facility In Cleveland

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Clinic will open a 21,000-square foot biorepository facility in the Fairfax neighborhood next year, the hospital system announced Monday. The two-story building is expected to be completed by summer 2019.

"This new biorepository will be a critical resource for our scientists. Biobanking is essential for the evolution of personalized medicine. The ability to properly manage biological specimens and to compare diseased tissues side-by-side with healthy tissues, is essential to understanding the biological basis of a disease," said Dr. Serpil Erzurum, chair of Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute.

The new facility will serve as a storage house for human tissue samples and give scientists space to study an array of conditions, including cancer, heart disease and epilepsy. "As a leading healthcare organization, this provides an unparalleled opportunity to advance understanding of many different diseases, enabling us to make discoveries that are directly benefitting our patients," Erzurum added.

The building will be added to the Cleveland Clinic's campus, the hospital system said. Brooks Life Sciences will be managing onsite operations. The company will begin with the launch of a sample inventory process that will annotate each sample within the storage facility before moving material to the new biorepository.

"With an international reputation as a leader in medical research, Cleveland Clinic understands the value sample management plays in medical research and is committed to improving patient outcomes," said Brooks Life Sciences President Dusty Tenney. "We are extremely proud to be partnering with Cleveland Clinic to manage the operations of its new biobank and to offer our expertise in sample management."

Photo from Cleveland Clinic