From “One Health” and precision medicine to quality and innovative methods, stakeholder engagement and insights into healthcare – Europe Biobank Week 2024 offered a wide variety of topics. The congress, organised by BBMRI-ERIC (Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure – European Research Infrastructure Consortium) and ESBB (European, African and Middle Eastern Society for Biobanking and Biopreservation), took place from 14 to 17 May at the Vienna Hofburg under the motto “Strengthening Biobanks and Biorepositories: Collaborative approaches for a sustainable future”. More than 600 participants attended 23 sessions and two keynotes. Representatives of the German Biobank Node (GBN) and the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) presented their work in talks and posters. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the EBW was once again held as an in-person event.
Opening and key topics
Dr. Ayat Salman, President of the ESBB, and Prof. Dr. Jens K. Habermann, Director General of BBMRI-ERIC, opened the congress. In his speech, Prof. Martin Polaschek, Austrian Minister of Education and Research, emphasised the global importance of ‘datafication’ of biobanks and the need for transparent communication to strengthen trust in science.
Keynotes
Sir Rory Collins, Chief Executive of the UK Biobank, emphasised the relevance of large cohorts and access to data. Over 10,000 publications based on the UK Biobank have already been published by scientists worldwide. The visible successes of the UK Biobank have had a noticeable influence on political decision-makers in the UK.
Dr. Gillian Bartlett, Associate Dean at the University of Missouri, spoke about the inclusion of underrepresented population groups in biomedical research in order to avoid bias and increase medical benefits. Participatory models with the respective communities are crucial here.
Contributions from GBN and GBA representatives
In the area of quality management, contributions from the GBN/GBA community were particularly well represented. Sven Heiling (Integrated Biobank Jena) presented the GBN proficiency test concept for liquid biosamples, while Dr. Tilman Pfeffer (DZIF Tissue Bank, Heidelberg) received an award for his poster on the tissue proficiency test (“German Biobank Alliance tissue proficiency test – a sustainable way to assure high quality standards in biobanking”). Another poster focussed on the results of the “Friendly Audits”, presented by GBN quality coordinator Nhutuyen Nguyen.
Dr. Heidi Altmann (BioBank Dresden) presented the GBN starter kit for “newcomer” biobanks in the development phase and Dr. Daniel Brucker (Interdisciplinary Biomaterial and Database Frankfurt) presented the GBN's training and further education programme. In a session moderated by Dr. Ronny Baber (Leipzig Medical Biobank), Verena Huth, GBN communications manager, presented stakeholder analyses and communication strategies.
Dr. Cecilia Engels (German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research) presented two posters on the alignment of biobanks and data integration centres (in the “ABIDE_MI” project) and on the MIABIS standard.
Impressions and outlook
The BBMRI-ERIC “Congress Radio” offers summaries of the conference days in a podcast. Jens Habermann and Roland Leiminger, new President of the ESBB, announced the next EBW for 2025 during the closing ceremony – it will take place from 13 to 16 May in Bologna, Italy.
