The biobank for the molecular classification of kidney disease: research translation and precision medicine in nephrology

Glomerular diseases, a set of debilitating and complex disease entities, are related to mortality and morbidity. Advances in technology and the ability to interrogate disease pathogenesis using systems biology approaches are exploding. As exemplified by the substantial progress in the personalized diagnosis and treatment of cancer, the application of systems biology to enable precision medicine in other disciplines such as nephrology is well underway. Infrastructure that permits the integration of clinical data, patient biospecimens and advanced technologies is required for institutions to contribute to, and benefit from research in molecular disease classification and to devise specific and patient-oriented treatments. We established a biobank for molecular classification of different kidney diseases at the University Clinic for Nephrology and Hypertension, Diabetology and Endocrinology at the Medical Faculty of the Otto-von Guericke University Magdeburg.
These database, also called The Magdeburg Kidney Biopsy Cohort (MdKBC), first consolidated a large retrospective cohort of kidney biopsy specimens to create a population-based renal pathology database and tissue inventory of glomerular and other kidney diseases. The MdKBC will continue to prospectively bank all kidney biopsies performed in Magdeburg and North Saxony-Anhalt. The MdKBC is equipped to perform molecular, clinical and epidemiologic studies in renal pathology and also developed formal biobanking procedures for human specimens such as blood, urine and nucleic acids collected for basic and clinical research studies or for advanced diagnostic technologies in clinical care. The MdKBC is guided by standard operating procedures, an ethics framework and legal agreements with stakeholders that include researchers, data custodians and patients. The design and structure of the MdKBC permits its inclusion in a wide variety of research and clinical activities.