First prize for the poster competition at the HandsOn: Biobanks 2015 meeting, which took place in Milan, was awarded to the Thalassemia Testing and Haemoglobin Research Group from the Malta BioBank/BBMRI.mt, Centre for Molecular Medicine and Biobanking at the University of Malta.

The poster was entitled ‘Globin bank: biobanking tool for haemoglobin and thalassaemia research’ – by Laura Grech, Joseph Borg, Jeremy Cutajar, Jeanesse Scerri, Ruth Galdies, Wilhelmina Cassar and Christian Scerri, led by Alex Felice – and described the development of the Globin Bank in the last 25 years, which was set up in conjunction with the Thalassemia Clinic, Department of Health, and University of Malta.

Two observations were listed: the first quantified the increase of African and Asian genetic haemoglobin markers among neonates at Mater Dei Hospital. The second is the result of Grech’s research during her MSc and ongoing PhD. It follows in the discovery of the KLF1 master-regulation of red blood cells in haemoglobin production (Borg et al., 2010).

Grech retrieved samples stored at the Malta BioBank of diagnosed patients and found that many had a number of new and known KLF1 mutations.

This research highlighted the value of biobanking in modern health services and research with the objective of developing new therapies for rare diseases and cancer.

Biobanks add a new dimension to philanthropy. One can help others by becoming a research partner and donate samples and health data for discovery of new therapies.