The infrastructure took a major step forward by reviewing more than 300 European biobanks.
Project managers Professor Kurt Zatloukal of the Medical University of Graz, Austria and Professor Eero Vuorio of the University of Turku, Finland spoke with CORDIS News about BBMRI's current efforts to make the collective content of the biobanks available to researchers, and to develop a 'prototype' system that they hope will be functional by the end of 2010.
BBMRI's preparatory phase is funded with EUR 5 million through the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (
FP7) as one of several important research infrastructures of pan-European interest. BBMRI seeks to provide researchers with access to a Europe-wide collection of biomedical quality-assessed samples and data to treat and prevent human diseases.
The budding research infrastructure comprises 51 participating institutions and190 associated organisations, representing 30 EU and associated countries.
The next step for the project is to develop a prototype system, working with the most advanced biobanks that pose the fewest difficulties and adding others as they are ready. The project partners expect this prototype, which closes a potential gap between the planning and implementation phases of the project, to be functional by the end of 2010.
The goal is to aggregate the highly distributed data, which is collected at university hospitals and public research centres, and provide common access. The Web interface used by researchers planning their projects will show only data relating to groups of persons that share common features, he said, rather than
information related to an individual person.
One major IT challenge is to maximise the value of the samples by connecting as much relevant
information to them as possible; this is not simple, as samples collected long ago might be missing
information that today would be considered crucial.Another challenge is creating a harmonised database using data stored in systems that are not currently compatible.
Evaluating the quality of the samples themselves so that they can be used to the best advantage is another major undertaking.Starting with sample collection, all participating biobanks need to agree on standardised ways of treating the material from the very beginning. Regarding existing samples, though, it is hard to know exactly how a 20-year-old sample was initially treated.
But the major bottlenecks lie in harmonising the widely different ethical and legal requirements of each of the Member States. Education about and attitudes towards biomedical research differ between countries, as do interpretations of EU legislation such as the Data Protection Directive.
To have a better understanding of how the public in different parts of Europe perceives biomedical research, BBMRI is conducting focus-group work and has included key questions about biobanking in the latest Eurobarometer survey. A major stakeholder meeting, including patient organisations, medical associations and industry, will be held in Brussels in September.
European funds
