Biobanque québécoise de la COVID-19 (BQC19), a COVID-19 biobank to support Canadian health research

Biobanking plays a crucial role in promptly generating effective solutions to combat emerging infectious diseases. In direct response to the COVID-19 crisis, Quebec established the “Biobanque québécoise de la COVID-19” (BQC19) in March 2020. BQC19 swiftly amassed comprehensive demographic and clinical data and biosamples, from individuals across the province seeking care at participating hospitals and outpatient clinics. This article underscores the transformative potential of BQC19, which has thousands of digitized demographics and clinical records, biosamples from various stages of the pandemic, and provides digital access to the results of numerous multi-omic analyses. By advanced handling and analytical approaches to large sets of genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic and proteomic data, BQC19 provides a platform to investigate diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and explore patient stratification for a more personalized approach. Through BQC19, we examine the pivotal role of biobanks in deciphering the complexities of COVID-19 and their capacity to enhance readiness for future infectious threats. BQC19’s dynamic framework, encompassing participating hospitals, clinics, research institutions, core analysis laboratory data, and a network of Canadian and international medical professionals and researchers, exemplifies its versatility. With standardized protocols, secure data management, ethical guidelines and community engagement, BQC19 stands as a beacon for proactive research on emerging diseases.