New Miami storage facility could hold key to scientific breakthroughs
MIAMI - A new, high-tech storage facility is open in Miami. But, this one isn't for old furniture or your holiday decorations.
This storage space is for samples so small, you need a microscope to study them. In fact, the things kept inside could be the key to future scientific breakthroughs.
The biorepository at the University of Miami's Hussman Institute of Human Genomics is now up and running.
CBS News Miami got a behind-the-scenes tour before the official grand opening.
"Here we have this automated system which is one of less than 10 in the country for the size and scale of the operation we're trying to do," said Dr. Jacob McCauley, a professor of human genetics. "That will allow us to automate the storage of those specimens, which will increase efficiencies [and] biosecurity to allow us to really push those discoveries faster."
The facility can store five million tiny samples, all kept at negative 80 degrees Celsius and handled by robots.
The contents of this repository will give scientists better tools to study cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, autism and Alzheimer's.
"It's an amazing facility, it's state of the art," said Dr. Margaret Pericak-Vance, a geneticist and leading expert on Alzheimer's. "It's the next phase of medicine. As we move into precision medicine becoming a reality, these types of biospecimens that are stored here are going to become critical to critical care, critical to new discoveries in research. This is the future."
The biorepository was made possible thanks to a $7.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
All the samples inside come from people like Marc Royster, who are willing to participate in various studies and trials benefiting future generations.
"It's giving back in a different way," Royster told CBS News Miami. "Everyone may not have the wherewithal to write a check, pull out a credit card and donate to a particular cause, but we all have DNA."
The facility will be processing roughly one thousand samples a day.
More information on how to sign up for the various studies being conducted at the Hussmann Institute can be found here.
