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Science in the City 2021 Science in the City 2021
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
  • Events
    • Pre-Festival Events
    • Live Virtual Festival
    • Explore the Arches
  • Partners
  • Apply Now
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2015
    • 2014
View Programme
Science in the City 2021

Explore the Arches - How the Health!

University of Malta BioBank

Festival Area: How the health!

Organisation Description:

The University of Malta BioBank (UM-BioBank) provides population based biomolecular tools to promote biomedical research both in Malta and in collaboration with other Euro-Mediterranean countries so as to improve healthcare. Many Academic and Corporate centers seek access to well organised collections of human biological materials and data to support discovery in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.

The University of Malta BioBank provides a resource for hypothesis driven population biobanking, discovery with large informative families and the basis for genomics in the Mediterranean basin. It is a national archive of blood and DNA together with associated health data and now curates over 100K samples. Known as the Malta Biobank, it has developed over the years with various European and private / public and institutional funding and includes specific disease collections and datasets that are fundamental for biobank-led research.

One of the goals of the biobank is to sequence one percent of the Maltese population for Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and Copy Number Variations (CNVs). It is foreseen that this will lead to the discovery of genes and biomarkers to predict, detect and monitor disease together with the development of new pharmaceuticals/biotherapeutics (Theranostix). This will facilitate translational research and bridge the gap from bench to bedside.

The Principal Investigator of the UM-BioBank, Professor Alex Felice is a co-founder of EuroBioBank, the first European Network of Rare Disease Biobanks and the Biobanking and Biomolecular resources Research Infrastructure, European Research Infrastructure Consortium (BBMRI-ERIC). BBMRI-ERIC is the largest Health Research Infrastructure of the European Union. There are now good prospects to host a Euro-Mediterranean Hub/BBMRI Expert Center at the University of Malta (UM).

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Biobank Game

Aims of the game:
– To take the player through the whole biobanking process,
– To create public awareness about the biobank,
– To generate interest in participating in biobank-led research,
– Public engagement at European Researchers’ Night.
The game focuses on a young girl ‘Emma’ who suffers from a rare disease. Emma visits the doctor with her parents, a nurse takes her blood sample, the DNA is extracted and analysed in the laboratory of molecular genetics at University. Then the sample is stored in the biobank and the genetic analysis reveals the cause of Emma’s disease.
Instructions to play: It is a point and click game – hover the mouse over the arrow to change page.
Play The Game Here
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Website designed by: Storm - Web Design Malta

Science in the City is part of the European Researchers’ Night, an EU-wide celebration. It has been funded  by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (under grant agreement No 955263), and a number of corporate sponsors. It is recognised as a Festival by Europe for Festivals and Festivals for Europe (EFFE).

The Science in the City consortium is led by the University of Malta and the Malta Chamber of Scientists, in partnership with the the Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services and Digital Economy, TrustStamp, Malta Enterprise, MCAST, Greenhouse, Qualia Analytics, Esplora, BPC International, MEUSAC, PBS, Spazju Kreattiv, Aquabiotech, The Environment Resource Agency, Energy Water Agency, Malta Council for the Voluntary Services, More or Less Theatre, Storm Design and Kreattiv of the Malta Arts Council.

This communication reflects the author’s view and the European Commission is not responsible for any information it contains.

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