Cleveland Clinic and Brooks Automation Announce New Biobanking Facility

Cleveland Clinic and Brooks Automation Inc. (Nasdaq: BRKS) will launch a 21,000-square-foot biorepository in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood to enhance researchers’ study of human tissue samples and advance personalized medicine for an array of conditions — including cancer, heart disease and epilepsy.

This leading-edge facility will increase Cleveland Clinic’s existing biobanking capacity and accelerate translational research through streamlined patient consent processes and centralized storage.

“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 disease,” says Serpil Erzurum, MD, Chair of Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. “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 benefiting our patients.”

The two-story building will be located on Cleveland Clinic’s campus and is expected to be completed in summer 2019. Brooks Life Sciences, a division of Brooks Automation, will manage the onsite operations to include storing and maintaining high-value collections of biological material safely and efficiently. They 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,” says 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.”