By Hassan Zaggi
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has commissioned a massive biorepository facility at the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), a campus of the NCDC’s National Reference Laboratory in Lagos.
The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC) supported the project through the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria- their implementing partners.
The project was part of ongoing efforts to strengthen diagnostic capacity and surveillance for infectious diseases in Nigeria.
The newly commissioned biorepository in CPHL will serve as a national centralised resource for valuable, high quality and well-annotated samples.
It also expands the NCDC’s capacity for biobanking and complements activities at the apex public health laboratory, NCDC’s National Reference Laboratory (NRL) in Abuja which houses the largest biorepository in West Africa.
In a statement, the NCDC explained that a biorepository is an essential element for the preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks as it facilitates timely sharing of biological specimens and data and enables facilitates research (including public health research) and development.
This biorepository in CPHL, it further noted, will afford researchers that meet the necessary ethical requirements easy access to well-curated biological samples and data.
The samples made available through biorepositories such as this also aid training, confirmation of proficiency, etc.
The additional sample storage capacity will contribute to increased understanding of infectious diseases through integrated disease surveillance, and research which will inform public health decision-making, and facilitate the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.
The statement quoted the U.S. Consulate, Consul General Will Stevens, at the commissioning ceremony as saying that “the new facility will support Nigeria’s disease control efforts through the cataloguing and storing of blood samples for future use.
“The commissioning is a major accomplishment of the strategic partnership between the United States and Nigeria to support health security and respond to disease threats.”
He expressed optimism that the upgraded biorepository laboratory will support Nigeria’s readiness for future epidemic and pandemic responses.
The NCDC further explained that the quality storage of biospecimens collected for diagnostic and research purposes in both humans and animals is a critical step for facilitating research that will not only enhance our capacity for the timely detection and response to emerging and re-emerging disease outbreaks but also developing therapeutics and vaccines for the country.
It noted that one of the strategic approaches to achieving the NCDC mandate is the development and maintenance of reference laboratories across the nation to support the accurate and timely detection of infectious diseases.
A key component of public health laboratory services, the NCDC said, is ensuring proper storage of human and animal biological samples such as blood and its by-products (plasma and serum), biofluids (e.g., urine, sputum, etc), genetic material (DNA and RNA) including from pathogens, and the actual pathogens, etc.
