11th National Biobanking Symposium: Biobanking in Challenging Times

Rising energy prices, the threat of supply bottlenecks, the climate crisis, and the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic pose new challenges for biobanks. The symposium offers participants the opportunity to discuss various solutions. "Thanks to their strong networking with each other and their commitment to standardization, biobanks can meet the challenges together and additionally promote the establishment of international partnerships," says Nußbeck. For example, it was possible to evacuate the sample stock of a biobank from Kharkiv in Ukraine to Austria, as Dr. Svetlana Gramatiuk, head of the Ukraine Association of Biobanks, reported at the symposium. German biobanks have also accommodated biosamples from Ukraine very unbureaucratically.

For More Sustainable Biobanking 

The uncertain situation, the associated price increases, and supply bottlenecks are impairing the work of biobanks in Germany. Operating costs have risen significantly, especially when storing samples in -80°C ultra-low temperature freezers. A team from Environmental Medicine at the University of Augsburg took part in the "Freezer Challenge" of the US initiative "My Green Lab," not only to save costs but also to operate their laboratory more climate-friendly. With success - under 1,200 participating laboratories from all over the world, they won in the "Academic/Large Size Lab" category. "With the help of various measures, we were able to reduce our energy consumption significantly. For example, we now store certain samples that can withstand this at higher temperatures," says Dr. Claudia Hülpüsch, Head of the "Microbiome" department. "We also maintain our cooling units very thoroughly and regularly." GBN Director Prof. Dr. Michael Hummel adds: "It is also important to use the available storage capacity efficiently. This is one reason for using professional biobanks, as they usually have sample management systems that monitor this. Biobanks can also ensure that other research projects have access to existing samples and thus make the use of samples more sustainable."

Advancing Digitalization 

A sustainable form of sample use is to be achieved in the future by combining biosamples and patient data from healthcare and making them jointly usable for research via a portal. In the joint project of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII), ABIDE_MI, which has been running since 2021, a technical solution was developed that links data from the MII data integration centers with samples from biobanks of the German Biobank Alliance (GBA). Since the Research Data Portal for Health (FDPG) opening in May 2023, researchers have been able to submit feasibility requests for data and specimens. "ABIDE_MI has helped to advance the integration of processes and infrastructures between biobanks and the MII as a data infrastructure. This is an important step towards connecting biobanks to the planned health data infrastructures as part of the digitalization of health research," explains the TMF’s Managing Director Sebastian C. Semler. "This is particularly important when looking at the European Health Data Space." Prof. Dr. Jens Habermann, Director General of the European infrastructure BBMRI-ERIC, adds: "German biobanks are already highly visible on an international level via the German Biobank Node. ABIDE_MI now enables them to play a significant role in data-focused European research initiatives and the European Health Data Space."