Under the leadership of the German Biobank Node (GBN), biobanks from eleven German university hospitals and two IT development centres have joined together to form the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) in 2017, further biobank sites have been added since 2019. As of 2025, the GBA comprises biobanks at 37 locations and an IT development centre.
The GBA biobanks are harmonising their quality management and establishing a networked IT structure in order to make their human biosamples and the associated data available for biomedical research throughout Europe. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) provides funding for the work of GBN, which is supported by the German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ) for IT as well as by the BioMaterialBank Heidelberg (BMBH) and the Integrated Biobank Jena (IBBJ) for quality management.
Taking into account the interests of all stakeholders involved, GBN also advocates the concerns of biobanks beyond the biobanking scene. Moreover, GBN lobbies for biobanking on the European level by representing German interests in the biobank network BBMRI-ERIC. Thus, GBN creates standards for the further development and quality assurance of biobanking in Germany and Europe.
Our mission statement
- The German Biobank Node (GBN) is the umbrella organisation for biobanking in Germany.
- We bring German biobanks together and represent their interests within the European research infrastructure for biobanking, BBMRI-ERIC. Public funding enables us to operate independently of economic interests.
- We strive to advance biomedical research with sustainable “next-generation biobanking”. Our members make quality-assured human samples and data available to the network for this purpose.
- We work closely with our members to harmonise quality standards, establish a networked IT structure, and develop training for biobank staff.
- We exchange information with different biobanking stakeholders – from researchers to patients – on an interdisciplinary basis and communicate our findings transparently.
- Cooperation within our network is characterised by teamwork, mutual trust and collegial support.
- With our commitment to biobanking, we foster scientific progress on the path to precision medicine.
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