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Dear Colleague,
Welcome to the bumper May edition of the BBMI-ERIC bulletin. The sun is finally shining in Graz and we have lots of news to share from across the biobanking landscape. Inside this newsletter, you will find:
📰 New paper released in Nature and ELSI Dialogues webinar details
🧫 National Node news from Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, The Netherlands and Switzerland
🦠 The latest project and partner news from BY-COVID, canSERV, EPND, EOSC-Life, Open Journal of Bioresources, ISIDORe and the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases
📔 Upcoming events for your diary from the BBMRI.QM Academy, BBMRI ELSI, EOSC-Life and Health-RI, and BBMRI.de
👩🏽💻 Current job vacancies
⏱️ This newsletter is 2,207 words and is a nine-minute read.
Do you know someone who would appreciate BBMRI-ERIC news? Do forward this email and they can sign up to the mailing list here.
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New paper: Privacy risks of whole-slide image sharing in digital pathology
BBMRI experts have a new paper in Nature Communications. Access to large volumes of so-called whole-slide images—high-resolution scans of complete pathological slides—has become a cornerstone of the development of novel artificial intelligence methods in pathology for diagnostic use, education/training of pathologists, and research. Nevertheless, a methodology based on risk analysis for evaluating the privacy risks associated with sharing such imaging data and applying the principle “as open as possible and as closed as necessary” is still lacking. In this article, they develop a model for privacy risk analysis for whole-slide images which focuses primarily on identity disclosure attacks, as these are the most important from a regulatory perspective.
Lead author Prof. Petr Holub said: "The raison d'être of this paper, and why it's developed and published by an RI, is to stimulate development of easy-to-access collections of histopathological data, by demonstrating privacy risks and developing guidelines for anonymisation and sharing of anonymised and pseudonymised whole slide imaging data - namely for AI purposes in digital pathology, since AI is really transforming this field." [Access the paper here]
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BBMRI-ERIC ELSI Dialogues Webinar: Introduction to the Belgian Biobank Legislation - A Piece of the Puzzle in the Complicated EU Regulatory Landscape. 31 May, 14:00 CEST
Biobank legislation is not harmonised at the European Union level, and Member States have taken considerably divergent approaches in how they regulate the field. Whereas some countries do not have specific regulations, others have adopted complex biobank laws.
This webinar aims to present the unique legal framework for biobanking that is currently in place in Belgium. The Belgian Biobank law was first adopted in 2008, entered into force in 2018 and underwent an important reform in 2022. Moreover, the law is complemented by an essential piece of self-regulation, namely the Compendium on biobanks issued by the Federal Agency on Medicine Products and Health. The interplay with relevant data protection rules will also be the focus of our discussion. This webinar has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the project canSERV - providing cutting edge cancer research services across Europe (grant agreement number 101058620). [Register now]
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News from our National Nodes
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BBMRI.at
Publication by BBMRI.at partner Med Uni Graz: “Residual Humidity in Paraffin-Embedded Tissue Reduces Nucleic Acid Stability”. Researchers from BBMRI.at partner Med Uni Graz, who also have contributed the development of pre-analytical quality standards for FFPE tissue for DNA analyses, investigated the effect of residual humidity in paraffin-embedded tissue on RNA and DNA quality. [Read the full article]
BBMRI.at partners Med Uni Graz and Med Uni Innsbruck jointly participate in recently start EU project ONCOSCREEN: In this colorectal cancer project, the BBMRI.at ‘lighthouse’ collection “Colorectal Cancer Whole Slide Image (CRC WSI) Cohort” will be used and Med Uni Graz will leverage experience on artificial intelligence using digital pathology whole slide images gained from several projects with industry and BBMRI-ERIC. [Read the full article]
Cedars-Sinai Cancer biobank director comes from BBMRI.at partner Med Uni Graz: May 2023. [Read the full article]
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BBMRI.de
BBMRI.de/German Biobank Node (GBN): Cooperation between Leipzig Medical Biobank (LMB) and Lifespin: To gain deeper insights into obesity and diabetes, Lifespin and the Leipzig Medical Biobank, a partner of the German Biobank Alliance (GBA), are participating in a scientific cooperation. The LMB will provide 8,000 patient samples from the LIFE adult study, a population-based long-term cohort study. The data obtained through the cooperation will be fed back to the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilisation Diseases and be available to researchers at Leipzig University Medical Centre and external partners. More on this from Universitatsklinikum Leipzig (in German) or via the Lifespan website (English).
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BBMRI.cz
MMCI Biobank became accredited according to ISO 20387:2021 as the first biobank in the Czech Republic and 5th in Europe: At the end of 2022, BBM MMCI (Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute) participated in a pilot project of the Czech Institution for Accrediation (CIA, www.cai.cz) to assess the implementation of the system of quality management according to the ČSN ISO 20387:2021 Biotechnology-Biobanks standard. Based on the assessment of the established quality management system and the activities carried out in the Bank of Biological Material of the MMCI, compliance with the requirements of the ČSN ISO 20387:2021 Biotechnology-Biobanks standard was stated. The overall level of the set processes and related activities of the BBM MMCI was found to be at a very high professional level, is implemented in accordance with the system of quality management and was awarded the Certificate of Accreditation in March 2023 as the first biobank in the Czech Republic. The certificate was formally handed over on 20.4.2023 at MMCI by Ing. Jiří Růžička, MBA, Ph.D. (Director of the CIA) to Prof. MUDr. Marek Svoboda, Ph.D. (Director of MMCI).
The BBM MMCI became the 5th biobank in the EU to be officially accredited according to ISO 20387:2021, which clearly reflects the performance and erudition of the BBM MMCI team together with the emphasis placed on providing highly qualified and quality services in the field of biomedical research.
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BBMRI.nl
The art of sharing: For more than a decade of BBMRI.nl has laid a crucial foundation for a national infrastructure for scientific health research in the Netherlands. In this digital magazine, several key players reflect on their role and the future of the assets that have emerged from the project.
Here is an extract: '‘There’s an incredible amount of output, but if you don’t sustain this, you’ll never build that up again,’ Dorret Boomsma and Eline Slagboom agree. They have been closely involved in the research side of BBMRI.nl from the very start. In their interview in the one-off BBMRI.nl digital magazine they reflect on the many things that have come from BBMRI.nl, including the Dutch data Prize in 2018.
'Pathologist Folkert van Kemenade is the Dutch representative of BBMRI-ERIC, the overarching European research infrastructure for biobanking. He states that The Netherlands have played a pivotal role in the initial stages of ERIC, and that we should do our best to remain an ERIC member now that many BBMRI.nl assets are transferred to Health-RI. ‘This is an excellent initiative and really the way to go. If you bring research infrastructures together, you avoid duplication and you can operate more easily as one party.’' [Read the full article in the magazine]
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BBMRI.ch
Swiss Biobanking Platform: May's newsletter is available to read and includes consultation on proposed changes to the Human research Act and CIOMS consultation details [Read it here]. April's edition included details of a new SOP on “Data Quality Management” with practical guidance to improve data integrity, protection and security as well as data quality. [April's newsletter]
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Here's a roundup of the latest project news.
- BY-COVID - The latest newsletter with project updates and events is now available. [Read it here]
- canSERV - First canSERV call 'accelerating personalised oncology' extended to 25 May 2023. Cancer Researchers in, and outside, the EU are invited to apply for free access to cutting-edge transnational services with an indicative overall budget of EUR 500,000. The aim of this call is to accelerate knowledge gain in personalised oncology with specific emphasis on multi-level, data-based, treatment guidance linked to Molecular Tumour Boards. [Apply now]
- canSERV - Anyone involved in a Molecular Tumor Board (MTB) – e.g., physicians, scientists, patient representatives, ethicists – is invited to join the European Network for Personalised Oncology (ENPO) and its European Molecular Tumor Board Network (EMTBN). Apply by the end of May to attend the first meeting. [Details here]
- canSERV - Explore the 400+ oncology research services accessible via the canSERV project website. [Access the services]
- EPND - The Cohort Catalogue has officially been launched! This catalogue has over 60 cohorts with metadata on participants, biosamples, imaging and cognitive data. [Access the catalogue]
- EPND - The 2023 AD/PD conference took place in Gothenburg (Sweden), between 28 March - 1 April. An ePoster entitled "The European Platform for Neurodegenerative Diseases" was presented that explains how EPND aims to accelerate large-scale biomarker research by building a collaborative platform for sample and data sharing, highlighting recent milestones including the Cohort Catalogue. [View the poster]
- EOSC-Life - A concise overview of projects funded through the Training Open Calls and links to sustainable training resources is now available: [Access the overview]
- European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases: Have two MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) available. They are designed for individuals with a prior interest in rare diseases research, especially postgraduate students and medical students. Patient advocacy representatives and advocates as well as health professionals who want to deepen their knowledge in rare diseases research could also find the MOOCs of interest.
- MOOC: Diagnosing Rare Diseases: from the Clinic to Research and Back - Codeveloped by the Foundation for Rare Diseases, the European Reference Networks Genturis and Ithaca, and EURORDIS. This MOOC addresses the diagnostic research progress, types of genetic tests for rare diseases, and the impact of having or lacking a diagnosis on patients' lives. [Details and registration].
- MOOC: From Lab to Clinic: Translational Research For Rare Diseases - Codeveloped by Foundation for Rare Diseases, the European Reference Network EuroNMD, EURORDIS, the European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine EATRIS, and the Leiden University Medical Center. It is intended to give an overview of the medicine developmental process for RD, by discussing how the results of the research done in the laboratory are used to develop new treatments and how they are finally brought to the market. [Details and registration]
- ISIDORe - Calls for proposals on respiratory pathogens, vector-borne pathogens and their vectors, and other pathogens with epidemic potential are still open [View the calls]
- Open Journal of Bioresources - Ubiquity Press calls for applications for the position of an editor-in-chief for the the journal with a starting date in fall 2024 at the latest. [More details]
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- 25-26/6 - EOSC-Life: FAIRifying sensitive data: technical, legal and practical considerations in the biomedical field. Rome. The main purpose of this training is to introduce the principles of biological and medical sensitive data and medical applications, access to data resources and data FAIRification (especially for health research and health care data). See the full agenda here. [Register to attend]
- 31/5 - BBMRI ELSI Dialogues: Introduction to the Belgian Biobank Legislation – A Piece of the Puzzle in the Complicated EU Regulatory Landscape. [Details and registration]
- 1/6 - BBMRI.QM Academy: A live-learning webinar with the topic ‘Validation and verification of processing methods and biobanking’ presented by key expert Fay Betsou via Zoom. We are very pleased to inform you that this session has been accredited by the EACCME®. That makes it possible to apply for a CME credit for live participation.. [Details and registration
- 7/6 - BBMRI.QM Newsroom: The second session in 2023 will be held on 7 June, 10:00-11:00 am CEST via Zoom. We will welcome two guests - Judit Balogh (Senior Project Manager at BBMRI-ERIC) and Dr. Saba Abdulghani (Head of Biobanking Development at BBMRI-ERIC) whose Q&A will be about the canSERV Project - providing Cutting-Edge Cancer Research Services Across Europe. [Register here]
- 13-14/6 - EOSC-Life: Health-RI/EOSC-Life workshop: Bridging the gap between researchers and research infrastructures. Which Life Science & Health RI tools and resources are available to you? Find out in this workshop in Utrecht, The Netherlands. [More details]
- 25-26/5 - BBMRI.de: Biobank Symposium: Registration for the 11th National Biobank Symposium from 25th to 26th May in Berlin is open. This year's event motto is "Biobanking in challenging times"; conference president is PD Dr. Sara Y. Nußbeck. Employees of biobanks of the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) pay a reduced participation fee. Register here.
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BBMRI-ERIC Headquarters vacancies
👉🏼 BBMRI-ERIC is currently looking for a Media Relations Specialist to curate our social media outreach, produce engaging content and handle EU project related communications. [Apply here]
👉🏼 BBMRI-ERIC is currently looking for a Data Strategist and Deputy CIO. Join us in Graz and/or work remotely. Want to lead the development of our data strategy and drive our daily IT operations? Apply here.
👉🏼 BBMRI-ERIC is currently looking for a Senior Public Affairs Specialist. Join us in Graz and/or work remotely as a core member of Public Affairs, working with Member States, ERIC Forum community and other key stakeholders. Apply here.
National Node vacancies
German Biobanking Node and Cyprus are currently recruiting. Details on our careers page.
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We love to share your news! Send your news, events, meetings, vacancies etc. to us for inclusion in the next BBMRI-ERIC newsletter by email - deadline is 12 May 2023.
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