This year's first meeting of the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) took place on 28 and 29 March in Leipzig with around 50 participants. In addition to biobankers, the meeting brought together clinicians, researchers and IT experts. "Biobanking is relevant for various disciplines," said Dr. Ronny Baber, Director of the Leipzig Medical Biobank (LMB), in his welcome address. "Biobanks are facilitators – and we biobankers support not only research, but also each other in the biobanking community". Dr. Cornelia Specht, Managing Director of the German Biobank Node (GBN), added: "The diversity of biobanking is clearly reflected in the programme of our event."
From biobank establishment to accreditation
Dr. Romy Kirsten, head of the Integrated Biobank Mannheim (IBM), reported on the establishment of the new biobank in Mannheim and her experiences over the past 18 months. Kirsten, who previously headed the tissue bank of the National Tumour Centre (NCT) Heidelberg, has been involved in this process from the beginning. In her experience, strong faculty support is essential for for the successful establishment of a new biobank is strong support from the respective faculty. Kirsten's presentation was of particular interest to the GBA observer biobank representatives in attendance. The report on the accreditation process according to the biobanking standard ISO 20387 was particularly relevant for the partner biobanks that have already been established for some time: systematic preparation including "friendly audits" by GBA colleagues will lead to success here.
What are GBA biobanks achieving?
The fact that many partner biobanks are planning to become accredited to ISO 20387 in the medium term became clear during the survey of key figures for the year 2022. Every year, GBN collects key figures for the GBA biobanks, such as how many research projects have been supported and how many samples have been delivered. In the lastest survey, new KPIs were added, such as differentiating between samples issued with and without "broad consent". "It was interesting to see that some biobanks also provided projects exclusively with data," said Dr. Johanna Schiller, GBN project manager. Dr. Cornelia Specht interjected that the figures provided only a limited picture of the performance of biobanks. She gave an overview of the results of the eight GBA working groups, from the Starter Kit WG to the Industry Cooperation WG. Specht: "The constructive work of the groups is a great enrichment for the GBA.
User perspective
The meeting also gave users of the LMB the opportunity to present their views. PD Dr. Maximilian Merz, Prof. Dr. Markus Scholz and Prof. Dr. Wieland Kiess impressively demonstrated how very different projects and studies benefit from cooperation with the LMB. Merz explained that single-cell sequencing requires particularly fast and uncomplicated access to the biobank. Otherwise, the samples cannot be used. Scholz and Kiess also emphasised the flexibility and reliability of the collaboration with the LMB – and, above all, the importance of high sample and data quality, to which the biobank makes a significant contribution.
Access to samples and data
If researchers are looking for specific samples or a suitable biobank for a collaboration, GBN tools such as the Sample Locator or the German Biobank Directory offer support. Patrick Skowronek from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Heidelberg and Dr. Zdenka Dudová, GBN coordinator for IT, provided information about new developments. Dudová and her GBA colleagues have revised many entries in the Directory to improve the quality of information. Some GBA sites now have their own instances of the Sample Locator, Skowronek reported. These clearly display the local stock of samples. In addition, "dashboards" for individual collections are available, giving researchers a quick overview of the collection progress. Such a system is used, for example, for the EXLIQUID sample collection, which is spread over twelve locations. Dr. Christof Winter (Technical University of Munich, TUM) presented the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK) research network for monitoring personalised cancer therapies.
Enthusiasm among the participants
"The interest in sharing experiences and networking in the GBA is unbroken," said GBN Director Prof. Dr. Michael Hummel. "This is also shown by the increasing number of registrations with each meeting." The GBN office is delighted with the consistently positive feedback from the participants. "I am enthusiastic about the openness and the exchange in the community," summarised PD Dr. Andrea Horst, Project Manager of the Biobank Network at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). "The thematic breadth of the working groups is impressive. The reports on practical experience and the fact that difficulties are also addressed are very valuable to me."
Further information and links:
- Become a GBA Partner/Observer
- GBA Working Groups
- Information on accreditation according to ISO 20387
- Sample Locator
- German Biobank Directory
- Leipzig Medical Biobank (LMB)
