A 石榴视频黄色版 team has been systematically building up a biorepository of COVID-19 patient samples for the past two months and will soon be ready to distribute portions to researchers.聽

., a pulmonologist and co-principal investigator of the , said a working group was established last week to advise on the best use of the samples.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a precious and finite resource, so we want to make sure it goes to the best science,鈥� he said.

So far, the only samples distributed have been to researchers at MUSC and Clemson University working on antibody test development.

To collect samples, the biorepository has been able to take advantage of MUSC鈥檚 statewide reach. MUSC Health Florence, which has cared for a greater number of COVID-19 patients than University Hospital in Charleston, joined the effort earlier this month and has already submitted samples from eight inpatients.

鈥淚t's a terribly important project. We're especially grateful to those who are willing to donate, because it鈥檚 not going to help them directly. It's about trying to find something that will help other people. We take that with great seriousness and gratitude.鈥�

Patrick Flume, M.D.

Flume noted that there鈥檚 a careful balance in asking the regional hospitals to participate in research, something they hadn鈥檛 done before being acquired by MUSC Health in 2019. Last fall, the SCTR team had started to explore expanding clinical trials to the regional hospitals; when the coronavirus pandemic hit, that plan accelerated.

Amy Gandy, SCTR Research Nexus Laboratory manager, said that altogether the team has collected blood and saliva samples from 54 patients, including a total of 10 inpatients. Each blood donation can be subdivided into multiple samples, which can then be provided to a variety of researchers.

The biorepository also received about 10,000 nasopharyngeal swabs after they went through diagnostic testing for COVID-19, which the team then sorted according to whether they had tested positive or negative, Gandy said.

The research that can be done with these samples won鈥檛 be on the virus itself but will provide insights into the body鈥檚 immune response, Flume said. There are a lot of questions that can be answered based on immune response, he noted. MUSC Health also has clinical data about each patient that can be shared with researchers based on the level of approval they receive from the Institutional Review Board.

To date, the biorepository holds almost 1,575 samples, Gandy said. Though that may sound like a lot, there continues to be a need for more, and
鈥淚t's a terribly important project. We're especially grateful to those who are willing to donate, because it鈥檚 not going to help them directly. It's about trying to find something that will help other people. We take that with great seriousness and gratitude,鈥� Flume said.