Today's Edition
SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)
With a state-of-the-art biobank located in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi is positioning itself as a regional leader in stem cell therapy and biomedical research, eventually eliminating the need for UAE citizens and residents to seek personalised, life-saving treatments abroad.
The Abu Dhabi Biobank is the region’s largest multi-modal cord blood collection and storage facility. It offers private cord blood banking services at a fraction of prevailing market rates and also functions as a pan-human biobank, a world-class resource supporting biomedical innovation and personalised healthcare.
“The ambition is to do something similar (to the UK Biobank) in Abu Dhabi: Following large numbers of people throughout their lives, understanding their lifestyles, their genetics, their occupation and the other things that influence their health and try to really unpick those details as to what is protective of health and what is deleterious to health,” said Paul Downey, General Manager of Abu Dhabi Biobank, M42, in an interview with Aletihad.
Besides collecting umbilical cord blood through its private services, the facility also stores donated samples from families who chose to contribute rather than discard the tissue. To date, more than 1,000 units have been banked — potentially life-saving resources for patients in need of stem cell treatment within the UAE or across the region.
“At the moment, people are travelling overseas for stem cell therapy to Europe and the US.” But this could be a compromise, Downey stressed, “because the stem cell unit you will receive in London or New York will not be as closely genetically matched as if it were a stem cell unit donated in Abu Dhabi”.
With the support of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, the biobank uses HLA typing to ensure the best biological match between donors and recipients, maximising success rates and minimising rejection.
“People from the same ethnicity, same background, have a closer HLA match than somebody living in the UK, the US or Southeast Asia. So, it is important to collect stem cells locally, which is obviously what we’re doing,” Downey said.
Stem cell therapy is still considered an emerging field of medicine. “It falls under the category of regenerative medicine, and I think it is particularly interesting in the fact that it can treat a wide range of diseases.”
Currently, umbilical cord blood is used to treat more than 80 serious conditions, but this number is bound to increase, he added.
Expanding Stem Cell Treatments
Abu Dhabi Biobank’s dual approach — encompassing both therapeutic and research functions — is what sets it apart.
“We help facilitate stem cell research into how the stem cells can be used to treat other diseases where it is not currently licensed, so through clinical trials,” Downey said.
The biobank’s research arm supports studies to expand stem cell treatments beyond the current 80 approved diseases.
This vision aligns closely with the work of the Omics Centre of Excellence, another cornerstone of Abu Dhabi’s scientific ecosystem.
“The Omics Centre of Excellence focuses on human genetics and, in particular, the Emirati Genome Programme and whole genome sequences in general,” Downey said.
But genetics is just one layer of the picture. “Health and disease are a function of your genetics, but also your lifestyle, your occupation, the decisions that you make, things that you are exposed to, pollution, etc. So to understand health and disease, you need access to genetic information and exposure information.”
Successful Transplant Eyed This Year
For Downey, Abu Dhabi’s biobank is not just about research, it is about health transformation.
“By catalysing biomedical research through the development of this research resource, we will encourage investment in health innovation within the region.”
There is, in fact, a growing interest from major pharmaceutical companies, he said.
“We are helping facilitate that by developing the resources they need to do their research and biomedical innovation development,” Downey said, pointing to the bank’s tumour samples, electronic medical records, and exposure data as major assets.
This year, Abu Dhabi Biobank is hoping to “successfully enable a transplant in Abu Dhabi”.
“If we come together, we can make a difference in the world and help develop the Abu Dhabi Biobank. We will surely see innovations, beneficial to people locally, but globally. Those innovations will arise within Abu Dhabi, which is extremely exciting,” Downey said.
