Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) comprise a growing, increasingly complex population as the result of advances in surgical and medical care. Many, though, are still at increased risk for a variety of adverse events, both cardiovascular and otherwise.

The Boston Adult Congenital Heart Disease Biobank (BACHBank) was started in 2012 and collects and stores biospecimens from patients seen at at Boston Children’s and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals to provide a sustainable resource for the scientific investigation of biomarkers and genetics underpinnings in ACHD.

The main goals are:

To validate the use of clinical biomarkers that have been studied in other patient populations
To facilitate novel biomarker discovery
To improve prospective clinical risk prediction
To define pathophysiologic mechanisms of disease among diverse types of congenital heart disease

Students could be engaged in any aspect of the study, from engaging with study participants to data analysis, depending on interest.

See tinyurl.com/bachbank for further information.