Dear valued colleagues and friends of BBMRI,
We hope that you and your loved ones had a wonderful start into 2022. On behalf of the entire BBMRI-ERIC Headquarters Team, we wish you a year full of health, happiness, joy and success. We are very much looking forward to continuing common activities and to diving into new endeavours together to further advance the biobanking and biomolecular resources domain in health and life sciences.
Sincerely,
Prof. Jens K. Habermann
Director General, BBMRI-ERIC
Slovenia becomes BBMRI-ERIC's 24th Member
The Republic of Slovenia has been officially confirmed as a Member of the Biobanking and BioMolecular resources Research Infrastructure - European Research Infrastructure Consortium (BBMRI-ERIC). Slovenia was approved as a new member by the BBMRI-ERIC Assembly of Members on 19 November 2021.
Slovenia will be represented in the Assembly of Members by its Ministry of Education, Science and Sport; Prof. Urban Bren, Vice Rector of the University of Maribor for Knowledge Transfer, has been designated as the National Node Coordinator.
Read more...
Prof. Urban Bren, Slovenian National Node Coordinator
Europe Biobank Week 2022: Save the date!
Aiming for Europe Biobank Week to take place as face-to-face congress in 2022, we are planning #EBW22 on 27-30 September 2022.
More information to come soon.
EBW is the jointly organized annual congress of BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB (European, Middle Eastern and African Society for Biopreservation and Biobanking).
Quality Management
The biobank.cy Centre of Excellence successfully completed an Internal Audit for the assessment of the established Quality Management System based on the ISO 9001:2015 standard. The internal audit was held over 3 days at the beginning of November where team members from the BBMRI-ERIC QM services participated in a hybrid format, with on-site and remote presence. This task was undertaken in preparation for ISO 9001:2015 certification of the biobank.cy Centre of Excellence.
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Human Resources
BBMRI-ERIC Headquarters welcomes two new team members!
We're delighted to introduce two new colleagues. Maike Tauchert and Erica Andrade joined our team on 1st January.
Maike is a trained biotechnologist and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry, microbiology and structural biology from Technical University Braunschweig, Germany. She entered the field of quality management by attending a Good Manufacturing Practice course an then gained four years of experience in quality and project management in the field of biobanking at Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany. During this time she has attended various training courses, for example a summer school on biobanking in Groningen and further training as an internal quality auditor from TÜV SÜD. This laid the foundation for her new position as quality manager at BBMRI-ERIC. She will mainly manage quality-related aspects in ongoing and future EU-funded projects as well as support and contribute to the development of the QM system at the headquarter.
Erica Andrade has a degree in Business Administration and Financial Planning from Anhembi Morumbi University, in São Paulo, Brazil. She has worked as Finance Controller at Marquette University and Firefly Family Dentistry, in Wisconsin, USA, with experience in the general ledger day-to-day finance areas, providing performance reports and analysis. In addition, she has more than 10 years of experience in franchising consulting, developing business plans and expansion in the retail market and managing franchisors. Her international experience includes Brazil, Angola, the United States and now here in Austria.
Please welcome Erica, Finance Officer, and Maike, Quality Manager.
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News from our National Nodes
BBMRI.at: Pre-analytics CEN standard "human sample for microbiome DNA analysis" - now available in German language
BBMRI.at led the development of the European norm "CEN/TS 17626:2021 Molecular in vitro diagnostic examinations - Specifications for pre-examination processes for human specimen - Isolated microbiome DNA.
Read more...
BBMRI.at: How does Covid-19 vaccination work in immunodeficiency?
BBMRI.at partner Biobank Graz supported a research study at Med Uni Graz on the COVID-19 vaccination effect in immunocompromised people. The researchers came across cell types which could allow to predict how someone will respond to the COVID-19 vaccination.
Read more...
BBMRI.de/German Biobank Node (GBN): Steering Committee newly appointed for 2022–23
The German Biobank Node (GBN) and German Biobank Alliance (GBA) have appointed their Steering Committee for the period from 2022 to 2023. It consists of a total of twelve members: Heidi Altmann, Gabriele Anton, Ronny Baber, Daniel Brucker, Michael Hummel, Thomas Illig, Roland Jahns, Michael Kiehntopf, Martin Lablans, Alexandra Nieters, Sara Nussbeck and Sabrina Schmitt. The SC supports GBN in the implementation of the work programme and ensures that the biobanks of the GBA work together effectively.
Read more...
BBMRI.de/German Biobank Node (GBN): New perspective on heart valve disease
In aortic valve stenosis, the heart valve is narrowed and the blood can no longer be pumped sufficiently into the body. Patients need a new valve. But the heart muscle also changes due to the disease. Supported by the Central Biobank of the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) – GBA partner since 2017 – scientists have discovered that this remodelling of the heart muscle plays a decisive role in the success of the patients' treatment.
Read more...
BBMRI.de/German Biobank Node (GBN): German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) first to offer biobank accreditations according to ISO 20387 within EU
Since September 2019, the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) has been accepting applications for accreditations according to ISO 20387 "Biotechnology – Biobanking – General requirements for biobanking". As the standard has now been published as a harmonised version in the Official Journal of the European Union, the DAkkS can now start processing the applications received. GBN prepares the GBA biobanks for accreditation with regular internal audits.
Read more...
BBMRI.pl: Cells from the biobank effectively used for the development of a dressing for treating hard-to heal wounds in the Medical University of Warsaw
Cells and tissues are essential part of many medicinal experiments – either as main players in novel therapies or as a waste material accompanying medicinal intervention (or both). Regardless of their role in therapy they can be collected and stored by biobanks. We present the example of a very effective pathway from clinical trial of Advanced Therapy Investigational Medicinal Products (ATIMP) containing adipose derived stem cells towards patent application, embracing a cell-containing dressing for treating hard-to-heal wounds. The medicinal area of the clinical trial and the dressing application are completely different (are not related to each other). The issue is that excess of cells meant to be used for the therapy were collected in the biobank (with the appropriate consent of the patients and under the supervision of the ethics committee) and used in the experiments that resulted in the development and application of the dressing of the invention (PCT application number PCT/PL2021/050068 – “A dressing for treating hard-to-heal wounds and a process for the manufacture thereof”).
With this example we present a highly effective pathway of using biological material with the biobank playing a central role.
BBMRI.pl: Polish Biobanking annual conference in review
With 194 registered participants Polish Biobanking community held it's annual conference on the 6th and 7th of December 2021. The online event organized by BBMRI.pl National Node summarized five years of Polish membership in BBMRI-ERIC and presented leading Polish biobanking units and initiatives applying solutions and standards developed under BBMRI-ERIC umbrella and introduced in Poland in 2017-2021. In Session 2. the speakers Mateusz Gaczyński, Jens Habermann, Andrea Wutte, Łukasz Kozera and Petr Holub spoke about Polish contribution to BBMRI-ERIC. Some most important effects of Polish membership to date are: creation of Polish Biobanking Network currently having 52 members and observers, development and introduction of quality standards for Polish biobanks, development and harmonization of IT solutions.
The conference was organized under the Honorary Patronage of the Minister of Education and Science, Mr Przemysław Czarnek, Minister of Health, Mr Adam Niedzielski, National Chamber of Laboratory Diagnosticians and Polish Society for Laboratory Diagnostics and was financed by the Ministry of Education and Science within BBMRI.pl project.
Selected presentations of the conference speakers (in English) can be viewed here.
Project News and Partners
CY Biobank: Fully vaccinated Cypriots show higher antibody levels than those infected, (source: KNEWS)
The Center for Excellence in Biobank and Biomedical Research of the University of Cyprus coordinates research with collaborators from the Medical School of the University of Cyprus, the Medical School of the University of Nicosia and the Faculty of Sciences of the European University of Cyprus with various objectives, including monitoring and evaluation of the presence of antibodies against COVID-19 in the population of Cyprus.
Read more...
EOSC-Life: EOSC-Life 3rd Annual General Meeting
EOSC-Life is building a digital space for the life sciences, and several project outputs such as WorkflowHub, FAIRsharing.org and the Toolbox on Sharing of Sensitive Data are already benefitting the life science communities. While March 22 is for beneficiaries only, the general public is welcome to attend the 3rd Annual General Meeting on March 23 to find out more about the project’s achievements thus far.
Our partner ERINHA is launching a new TNA Call!
In the framework of the EU funded H2020 project ERINHA-Advance, free of charge TransNational Access (TNA) to ERINHA services is offered to users for advancing their research on SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19. ERINHA is renewing once more its commitment to supporting scientific users by launching an impact driven 3rd call for proposals still dedicated to SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19, with a special emphasis on variants of concern. Find out about the new TNA Call on their website.
Application deadline: 7th February 2022
IC2PerMed: Virtual Round Table #4 on 16 February 2022
“Get to know the European and Chinese landscape in Personalised Medicine-biobanking with special focus on the common intersections data/Ethical, Legal and Societal Issues (ELSI)/quality” – that is the credo for the 4 Virtual Round Tables organized by BBMRI-ERIC as part of the H2020 project IC2PerMed!
Within VRT#4: "Quality – What’s missing when things don’t work as they should?" European and Chinese experts will provide an overview on the European and Chinese perspective, challenges, limitations, future trends and much more of Biobanking Quality in connection with PM. In addition, VRT#4 will build on the WP2 achievements (knowledge synthesis on the identification, transferability and scaling up of international standards in PM), ranging from the WGs workshops to the WP2 roadmap.
All of this will be rounded up with an interactive question and answer session.
Register here and join us on Wednesday, February 16, 2022 - 9:00-10:30am CET
Contact and information: Ulrike Rohrer - ulrike.rohrer@bbmri-eric.eu
RI-VIS: Communications guidelines for engaging with regional stakeholders
RI-VIS has now published two regional communications guideline documents, continuing its ongoing collaboration with Latin America and with Africa.
These documents have been developed with the input of more than 20 regional stakeholders.
Read more...
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Events
Online / 1 February 2022, 13-17:00 CET
Virtual Organizational Tour and Workshop for Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers at BBMRI-ERIC
The University of Graz and BBMRI-ERIC are teaming up to offer a virtual organizational visit and a workshop for doctoral and postdoctoral students in biomedical research careers at our headquarters in Graz. This activity is organized within the Arqus Alliance actions for PhD employment support. The call is open for early-stage researchers. The virtual visit could be relevant for researchers from the fields of bioethics, ethics, law, social sciences, IT, biobanking, pathology, genomics, bioinformatics and quality management and policy, among others.
Madrid, Spain - Hybrid / 7-8 February 2022
6th European Conference on Clinical Research
EUCROF will take place hybrid this year. BBMRI-ERIC will attend and present the Code of Conduct. Info and registration on the conference's website.
Online / 8-10 February 2022
UK Biobank Showcase
Organised by the UKCRC Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre, the UK Biobanking Showcase is the UK's leading event for those who work in biobanking and human tissue research. Save the date for this year's Showcase - full details to follow soon! Our Director General Jens Habermann will have the pleasure to represent BBMRI-ERIC.
Paris, France / 23-25 March 2022
ESFRI Forum Meeting & Conference Celebrating 20 Years of ESFRI
This event is co-organised by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the European Commission and the French Academy of Sciences.
Maastricht, The Netherlands / 29 June - 2 July 2022
AI 4 IMAGING: Radiomics, Deep Learning and Synthetic Data – A Hands-on Course
This course on Artificial Intelligence for Imaging is a unique opportunity to join a community of leading-edge practitioners in the field of Quantitative Medical Imaging. Whether you are a researcher in the field or are interested about fostering this type of research in your clinic, during this 4-days immersive course you will be able to attend lectures and workshops from world-class experts in Radiomics, Deep Learning and Synthetic Data.
Lisbon, Portugal / 9-14 July 2022
FEBS Congress 2022
The 46th FEBS Congress is a joint event with IUBMB and PABMB, hosted by the Portuguese Biochemical Society in Lisbon, 9–14 July 2022, as 'The Biochemistry Global Summit'.
Leiden, The Netherlands / 13-16 July 2022
ESOF 2022
The EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) created by EuroScience in 2004, is the largest biennial interdisciplinary meeting on science and innovation in Europe, for and with society.
Gothenburg, Sweden / 6-8 September 2022
The Nordic Biobank Conference
The Nordic Biobank Conference in Gothenburg is jointly organized by Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
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Job Vacancies
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab in Barcelona is currently looking for :
University of Malta (UM) is currently looking for :
- a Laboratory Officer - Natural Sciences - application deadline - Friday, 4 February 2022
- a Laboratory Officer - Department of Pharmacy - Faculty of Medicine Surgery - Closing Date: Friday, 11 February 2022
Find other current job openings from BBMRI-ERIC partners here.
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We'd love to spread your news! If you would like to share any of your news, meetings, vacancies etc. in this newsletter, please send it by email.
The Central Executive Management Office
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