Covid-19 Neuro Biobank Launched

Andrea Troxel, Sc.D., professor of population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and Eva Petkova, Ph.D., professor of population health and child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, are leading the NeuroCovid project, a new database that will be a storehouse of biospecimens as well as clinical data on people who have reported neurological issues in connection with SARS-CoV-2. Supported by NINDS, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health, the biobank/ database was created and will be maintained by NYU Langone Health, New York City.

The database seeks to gather information pertaining to disease course, comorbidities, complications, sequelae, and outcomes, in addition to neurological symptoms. No personal identification marker will be attached to the data. Instead, for recognition of the biospecimens and related data, a Global Unique Identifier (GUID) will be used.

Relevant information, as well as biospecimens collected, can be updated into the database by participating healthcare sites as well as health care providers, through a web portal. This facility is available across the United States. The information, however, should be de-identified before submission.

Barbara Karp, M.D., program director at NINDS, said, “We know that COVID-19 can disrupt multiple body systems but the effects of the virus and the body’s response to COVID-19 infection on the brain, spinal cord, nerves and muscle can be particularly devastating, and contribute to persistence of disability even after the virus is cleared. There is an urgent need to understand COVID-19-related neurological problems, which not uncommonly include headaches, fatigue, cognitive difficulties, stroke, pain, and sleep disorders as well as some very rare complications of serious infections.”

The database is expected to provide insights into the Covid-19 impact on the nervous system which is expected to boost understanding on how common these complications are. Access to NeuroCovid will be available to scientists doing research on prevention, management and treatment of neurological complications connected with Covid-19. They can request access to the database via the NeuroCOVID website(external link).

NeuroCOVID is supported by NINDS (NS113844-01S1). More information is available on: https://covid19.nih.gov