Biobanking for Europe.
Biobanks are well-organized resources comprising biological samples and associated information that are accessible to scientific investigation. Across Europe, millions of samples with related data are held in different types of collections. While individual collections can be well organized and accessible, the resources are subject to fragmentation, insecurity of funding and incompleteness. To address these issues, a Biobanking and BioMolecular Resources Infrastructure (BBMRI) is to be developed across Europe, thereby implementing a European 'roadmap' for research infrastructures that was developed by a forum of EU member states and that has been received by the European Commission. In this review, we describe the work involved in preparing for the construction of BBMRI in a European and global context.
Yuille
Martin
M
The University of Manchester, School of Translational Medicine, CIGMR Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. Martin.Yuille@manchester.ac.uk
van Ommen
Gert-Jan
GJ
Bréchot
Christian
C
Cambon-Thomsen
Anne
A
Dagher
Georges
G
Landegren
Ulf
U
Litton
Jan-Eric
JE
Pasterk
Markus
M
Peltonen
Leena
L
Taussig
Mike
M
Wichmann
H-Erich
HE
Zatloukal
Kurt
K
D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005060:Europe; D005062:European Union / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*