The CRLB-GMEL laboratory was born as a new entity in late 2020, a combination of the Clinical Research Laboratory (CRLB), established in 1987 at McMaster University to support clinical trials, biobanking, and biochemistry testing and the Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory (GMEL), established in 2010, a collaboration between McMaster, PHRI, and TaARI. The GMEL conducts genetic testing, and researches new methods to conduct those tests.

The CRLB-GMEL offers a full range of laboratory services including:

• Biobanking
• Biochemistry & biomarker analysis
• Proteomics
• Genomics including DNA sequencing, gene expression, epigenetics
• Metabolomics
• Bioinformatics

The genetics and molecular epidemiology team at CRLB-GMEL provides a broad range of genomic and proteomic solutions:

• Specializing in large-scale population genetic studies, capable of handling project sizes ranging from single samples to >10,000 samples.
• Supporting experimental design considerations, bioinformatics and statistical analyses, and interpretation/reporting of results.

We are proud to have the largest research biobank in Canada today. With the 1993 launch of PHRI’s study, HOPE (Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation), the Clinical Research Laboratory and Biobank (CRLB) needed to expand its capacities in collection, transportation and analytics to accommodate samples. The long duration of many PHRI studies – ranging from five to 10 years – resulted in the decision to store all samples from -160 C to -180 C (almost twice as cold as before) in nitrogen vapour for long-term stability.