Family Bank: Abu Dhabi Biobank

About

The intended launch of the Abu Dhabi Biobank was announced in May 2024. The new bank will collect public cord blood donations within the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Prospective parents will avail themselves of this service at Danat Al Emarat Hospital for Women & Children (part of the M42 group), Corniche Hospital, Kanad Hospital, and hospitals as part of NMC Healthcare.

Labs and Locations

The Ministry of Health announced that the cord blood bank facility of Abu Dhabi Biobank, will be situated within G42’s Omics Centre of Excellence in Masdar City, where it will be housed in the first net-zero building in Masdar City. Masdar City is a business and technology hub in Abu Dhabi, built by Masdar, a subsidiary of the state-owned Mubadala Investment Company. 

In the meantime, the cord blood bank already appears on the website of the Danat Al Emarat Hospital. The Danat Al Emarat is a world-class specialty hospital for women and children that is located in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The five-story hospital covers an area of 58,000 square meters, with 220 beds and is owned by Mubadala Health, part of the Mubadala Investment Company.

Business Experience

Abu Dhabi Biobank is an initiative between the Department of Health of Abu Dhabi and M42, which combines cord blood banking along with a broader “pan human” collection of cells, tissues, and genetics. The construction of a biobank with enough storage space to become the world's largest such repository is part of a broader U.A.E. goal to become a world leader in applications of Artificial Intelligence, including healthcare. M42 is the healthcare division of G42, a Chinese technology company which has made enormous investments in many areas of the U.A.E. in recent years, including the distribution of COVID-19 testing and vaccines and the development of the ToTok social media platform.

While the web presence of the Abu Dhabi Biobank suggests that it will also offer family banking, as an initiative of the Abu Dhabi Department of Health its primary focus will be collecting cord blood donations for public health.