BioVU, Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s biobank, has reached another milestone — deep-freeze storage of more than 300,000 biological samples. Launched in 2007, BioVU is the world’s largest DNA biobank based at a single academic institution.
The samples, which are linked to patients’ de-identified electronic medical records (EMRs), have enabled hundreds of VUMC scientists and their collaborators to explore the genetic roots of disease, discover potential new treatments, and push the boundaries of personalized medicine.
BioVU has been “transformational” for VUMC and for genomic research, said the biobank’s founding director, Dan Roden, MD, professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and Biomedical Informatics and Senior Vice President for Personalized Medicine at VUMC, who holds the Sam L. Clark, MD, PhD Chair.