A collaborative effort has led to the creation of a new musculoskeletal biorepository, or biobank, used to store biologic specimens from patients to help advance research on conditions that affect shoulder, elbow, and hip joints.

Since it was launched in December 2024, more than 600 biologic specimens—saliva, blood, synovial joint fluid, tissue, and bone—have been stored in the Iowa Hawkeye Orthopedic Biobank (IHOB).

Joseph Galvin, DO, FAAOS, a shoulder and elbow orthopedic surgeon and the primary investigator on the protocol for the biobank, says the specimens collected will help further basic science research on several conditions, including rotator cuff tears, shoulder instability, and shoulder and elbow arthritis and contracture, by helping to identify genes and proteins present in those conditions to improve diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Having an established biobank also increases the potential for novel precision medicine therapeutics, he says.

“We have an opportunity at Iowa to break some ground and lead the way in precision medicine for Orthopedics,” Galvin says.

Galvin launched a similar biobank at Madigan Army Medical Center before joining UI Health Care. He has partnered with Hongshuai Li, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, who is involved with two research projects for studying muscle in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Galvin hopes to eventually expand the biobank to help advance research on conditions that affect other joints.

Brendan Patterson, MD, MPH, FAAOS, a shoulder and elbow orthopedic surgeon and co-investigator on the project, says the interest his patients have had in the biobank has been “incredible.”

“I think a lot of them really see it as a way to give back and provide a very meaningful contribution to this cutting-edge line of research,” Patterson says.