Building National Infrastructure that Serves All
Driven by our leadership’s vision, the UAE continues to advance with clarity, ambition, and a steadfast commitment to shaping the future, a direction clearly reflected in the work being driven forward at the Abu Dhabi Biobank.
Arab, African and Asian populations remain underrepresented in genomics studies, drug discovery and clinical guidelines, creating gaps in the evidence needed to deliver truly personalised care.
What makes Abu Dhabi’s approach significant is the decision to actively addresses this imbalance. Together with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in the Emirate, M42, through the Emirati Genome Programme (EGP), has sequenced over 850,000 genomes in record time, laying the foundation for more predictive, preventive and personalised healthcare.
Now, the Abu Dhabi Biobank represents the next phase of that journey.
Developed through a strategic partnership between DoH and M42 and accredited to ISO 20387 - the international standard for biobanking, the facility connects biological samples with genomic, lifestyle and clinical data at a population scale. It reflects a broader shift in how healthcare is delivered moving from treating disease to identifying risk earlier, improving diagnosis, and tailoring interventions with greater precision.
Located in Masdar City, the net-zero facility has the capacity to store more than 100,000 cord blood samples and more than five million biological samples. But the true value of the Biobank lies not only in its size, but in what it enables.
From preserving future therapeutic options through cord blood banking, to advancing cancer research through the region’s first Tumour Bank, and strengthening national self-sufficiency through a local Eye Bank, the initiative is helping create an integrated ecosystem where biology, clinical practice, and data continuously inform one to accelerate the translation of science into impact.
The significance of this extends far beyond the UAE. With the UAE’s diverse population of 200 nationalities, the Abu Dhabi Biobank has the potential to become a foundational, diverse bio-asset, generating insights that better reflect real-world populations and improve the relevance of future medical innovation.
For researchers, this means population-representative data that has historically been limited in the region. For clinicians, it means diagnostic and therapeutic tools built on evidence that reflects broader global diversity. And for patients, it creates the possibility
of detecting cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes earlier and intervening with precision. This is the foundation of a resilient healthcare system that serves humanity.
As a physician who has spent more than two decades in the UAE healthcare system, what moves me most is the power of this nation to create something here on our land that acts as a beacon of hope for the world, led by the next generation of Emirati scientists, researchers and physicians.
Today, young Emiratis scientists, researchers and physicians are contributing directly to work that could shape how diseases are understood for decades to come. And, one day I hope to see new treatments and therapies, breakthroughs emerging from the UAE to serve patients around the world.
In the UAE's Year of Family, that perspective feels particularity important. The samples being collected and linked inside the Abu Dhabi Biobank today are creating capabilities that will be deployed years and decades from now, against diseases not yet fully understood, for patients who may not even have been born yet.
The Abu Dhabi Biobank belongs to that tradition: a long-term commitment building a healthier, more resilient future for all, while positioning the Emirate as a leading destination for life sciences innovation, and shaping the future of precision medicine for global health progress.
The Abu Dhabi Biobank is a strategic initiative of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, developed in partnership with M42, located in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi.
