Biobank for Respiratory Health in the Okanagan (BREATHE-OK), Canada

Registration Status: Completed

Objective: BREATHE-OK (Biobank for Respiratory Health in the Okanagan) is a region-specific biobank and disease modeling platform focused on understanding the impact of wildfire smoke and chronic lung diseases in BC’s Interior Health region. It will collect and store biological samples (e.g., blood, lung tissue, nasal cells) linked with clinical and environmental data from patients, including wildland firefighters and those receiving care at Kelowna General Hospital. Uniquely, it will also generate advanced, living lung models, such as organoids, to study disease mechanisms at the cellular level. BREATHE-OK aims to support cutting-edge respiratory research, improve public health preparedness, and address the region’s growing burden of lung disease worsened by climate change and smoke exposure.

Registered Biobank Name Biobank for Respiratory Health in the Okanagan (BREATHE-OK)
Biobank Leader Tony Guo
Country Canada
Email for biobank inquiries tonyguo@student.ubc.ca
Principal Investigator Emmanuel Osei, Phil Ainslie, Tony Guo
Website
User Type
  • Mono: A biobank that supports a specific research project, may have few staff members, a small-scale accrual scope with little to no initial intention of releasing or distributing biospecimens to secondary parties
  • Oligo: A biobank that supports several research groups or clinical trials, may or may not be designed to release biospecimens outside their collaborative group
  • Poly: A biobank that has generally a larger accrual scope, resources, and multiple users outside the biobank proper
Biospecimen Collected:
Cohort Highlights