With a focus on ethnic minorities, the SHE Biobank provides an infrastructure for boosting research and education and improves response to pandemics.

April 23, 2020, Massachusetts and San Francisco - Science Health Education (SHE) Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Silverberry Genomix, a leading company in digital health based in San Francisco, announced the launch of the SHE Biobank initiative. The SHE Center’s goal is to bring best practices, better health outcomes, and increased stability to developing countries including the Middle East and North America (MENA), a region urgently in need of all three. Navid Madani, Ph.D., the director of the SHE Center and a senior scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has led educational workshops and training programs in the region which reinforced the understanding of the current lack of health data infrastructure and solidified the need for such platforms in the region.

“The SHE Biobank is a large, long-term study that will investigate the impact of genetic predisposition and environmental exposure to the development of the disease,” said Madani. “Biobanking is crucial to this research and helps researchers, healthcare providers and governments to health policies and assign resources properly. “In recent years, due to advancements in healthcare technologies, data availability, and decreasing DNA sequencing costs, various biobanks have been created around the world.  However, the majority of such projects have been launched in developed countries, contributing to an increasing gap between developed and developing countries. This initiative aims to decrease that gap,” she said.

The SHE Biobank is unique in the educational support it offers researchers to conduct studies and the infrastructure it provides so the data can be put into action for the public good.  It also helps increase the readiness of the healthcare community to prevent or combat future disease outbreaks.

“The recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of the availability of digital health platforms to provide access to data and enable research and collaboration at scale for large size of population,” said Shayan Mashatian, Founder of Silverberry Genomix. “By making the Silverberry platform available to this critical endeavor, we are facilitating a rapid launch of the project, connecting the researchers, healthcare institutions, and other interested parties so more people can take advantage of scientific advancement, preventing disease or empower emerging field of precision medicine.”

Researchers, universities, government agencies, companies, and foundations as well as individual participants, are invited to participate in the initiative.

For more information about the initiative visit https://shebiobank.org or contact info@shebiobank.org

About SHE Center at Dana-Farber Institute, Harvard Medical School

Science Health Education Center (SHE) is a collaborative hub that promotes the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region relevant research and capacity building through international training and scientific investigation, creating synergies between the MENA healthcare professionals and the Dana-Farber and Harvard communities. For more information visit https://www.dana-farber.org/science-health-education-center/research/

About Silverberry Genomix

Silverberry Genomix is a leading digital health platform that utilizes AI and machine learning to provide personalized assessments and recommendations to optimize health and wellness plans. By offering a DNA Testing Kit, anyone can take the test and receive a personalized assessment as well as a wide range of recommendations. Those with an existing DNA file may upload their file and get access to Comprehensive DNA Health Reports. For more information visit https://silverberrygenomics.com/

Media Contacts

For all inquiries, call 617-632-4090 and ask to speak to a member of the media team. Please direct emails to media@dfci.harvard.edu

The new study intends to identify genomic susceptibility that alters either the rate of infection or the severity of the disease in response to the Coronavirus exposure.

April 13, 2020, San Francisco - Silverberry Genomix, a leader in the use of DNA testing for health and wellness announced a large scale genomic study in response to the current Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 outbreak. 

The new study intends to identify genomic susceptibility that alters either the rate of infection or the severity of the disease in response to the coronavirus exposure. 

The study involves healthy participants that may or may not be exposed to COVID-19 and it will look into the effects of various factors including known risk factors such as age, comorbidities, and lifestyle choices such as smoking in the occurrence of COVID-19 symptomes. 

Collection of pre and post universal exposure data from a large number of people in different communities would enable Silverberry Genomix to effectively learn and come up with recommendations to counter future pandemics. 

Silverberry Genomix is a market leader by launching its digital health platform to create personalized assessment and recommendations for its users to better manage their health and wellness goals. The platform can be used as a biobank for population health studies to better understand diseases, run clinical trials for disease prevention or drug discovery. 

Study participants will have their genome analyzed for the presence of protective or susceptibility factors. Users with an existing DNA file can also upload their corresponding files. New users can use Silverberry DNA Test Kit at-home using a saliva swab. The study volunteers will participate in an ongoing survey and undergo analysis of their genetic markers. The goal of the study is to identify genomic variants that affect diseases in the healthier participants that can protect them against more severe diseases, and to use this knowledge for the development of novel therapies.

“We believe to address the current pandemic challenge, a data-driven approach is crucial, so researchers can have access to reliable data at large scale. By leveraging existing Silverberry Digital Health Platform, we are taking an important step toward that goal.” said Shayan Mashatian, Founder of Silverberry Genomix. "The comprehensive Silverberry platform already available plus a community of users who are well versed and keen about their health and wellness, provides a solid base for this study. It is a natural next step in expanding our service to address the most urgent issues endangering the society." he continued.

Silverberry Genomix has formed a Pandemic Scientific Task Force to oversee the study, including scientists with virology background, computential genomics, and data scientists. 

A Coronavirus Response Initiative has also been stated which includes comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions. Participants can register online to participate in the study.

For more information visit https://silverberrygenomics.com/covid-19-genomic-study/