As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Unity Health has created two COVID-19 Biobanks, supported by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and part of the greater University of Toronto COVID-19 Biobanking network. Our biobanks were created to drive biomarker discovery and validation and to promote translational innovation.

The St. Michael’s based biobank is an extension of the “COVID-19 LOngitudinal BIomarkers in Lung Injury – COLOBILI” study. COLOBILI collects longitudinal clinical samples from hospitalized COVID-19 patients who are being treated in the ICU or general internal medicine wards. Samples include blood, saliva and tissue biopsies with matched clinical information. Unused samples from consenting patients are stored in a biobank for future research purposes. Interested researchers should contact us for further information about these samples.  

The biobank at St. Joseph’s Health Centre has collected remnant laboratory samples from hospitalized COVID-19 cases. Samples include remnant plasma and serum. Interested researchers should contact us for further information about these samples.