What is MircoVU?

MicroVU is the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s research biorepository of clinical microbial isolates collected during routine care and paired patient clinical data enabling research on host-microbe relationships.

Type of Data

  • Biobanked microbial isolates including bacteria, fungal, and discarded viral transport media from COVID testing.

    Years Available

    2013 – present (Bacteria and fungal isolates)

    2020 – present (COVID-19 viral samples)

    Description

    The goals of MicroVU include building a physical clinical microbial specimen biorepository linked to longitudinal electronic medical records and providing a platform for the study of how infection is linked to long term clinical outcomes in the Vanderbilt patient population. Microbial specimens stored in MicroVU are linked to a version of the electronic medical record called the Research Derivative (RD). In total, MicroVU has over 280,000 metadata records across 220 bacterial species, and approximately 40,000 isolates banked. In addition to bacterial species, MicroVU has fungal and viral specimens, along with the associated clinical metadata records. Biobanked microbial samples and associated clinical metadata are available to interested study teams. Study teams work together with the MicroVU and Integrated Data Access and Services Core (IDASC) teams to define their phenotype of interest, data dictionary, and any physical samples that are required.

    Strengths

    • Links microbial isolates to paired clinical data.
    • Supports a wide range of microbiology and infectious disease studies.
    • Enables phenotype definition and metadata collection.

        Limitation

        • Some microbial specimens require prospective collection.
        • Only certain species and sample types are currently banked.

        Availability

        • Requires IRB and VEHS approval, along with a defined funding source before applying for use.

          • Researchers interested in utilizing MicroVU: 
            • Step 1: Set up an intake meeting with the MicroVU team by emailing the Intake Project Manager.
            • Step 2: Submit an application through the VICTR Data Resource Common Application.

        Contact Person

        • Megan He (Project Manager): megan.he@vumc.org 
        • Deepthi Pemmaraju (Research Manager): manideepthi.pemmaraju@vumc.org 
        • Jodie Jackson (Operations Director): jodell.jackson@vumc.org 
        • Jonathan Schmitz (Principal Investigator): jonathan.e.schmitz@vumc.org

        Website