BBMRI-ERIC (Biyobanka ve Biyomoleküler Kaynaklar Araştırma Altyapısı- Avrupa Araştırma Altyapısı Konsorsiyumu), başarılı operasyonunun 10. yıldönümünü Brüksel’de Avrupa Birliği Avusturya Daimi Temsilciliği’nde bir çalıştay ile kutladı.
BBMRI-ERIC, 2013 yılında AB mevzuatı kapsamında kurulmuş bir Avrupa Araştırma Altyapısıdır. Araştırma altyapısının misyonu, yüksek kaliteli araştırmalara olanak sağlamak için örneklere, verilere ve biyomoleküler kaynaklara erişimi kolaylaştırmaktır.
Merkezi Avusturya’nın Graz kentinde olan BBMRI-ERIC, on yıllık bir dönemde aşağıdaki başarılara ulaşmıştır:
Öncülük: BBMRI-ERIC, Avrupa geneli ve dışındaki 400’den fazla biyobankayı sağlık ve yaşam bilimleri araştırmacılarıyla buluşturuyor. BBMRI-ERIC tarafından ilk kez kullanılan IT platformu, birden fazla yenilikçi AB projesinde ve BBMRI-ERIC topluluğunun da ötesinde kullanılan bir platform olmuştur.
Birleştirme: BBMRI-ERIC, çeşitli projelere (kanser, nadir hastalıklar, bulaşıcı hastalıklar, kişiselleştirilmiş tıp) öncülük ederek, geliştirerek ve katkıda bulunarak Avrupa Araştırma Alanını birleştirir.
Hizmet: BBMRI-ERIC öncelikle Avrupa’da akademi ve endüstrideki sağlık araştırma gruplarına hizmet vermektedir. Bu hizmetler, merkezi IT araçları, ELSI araştırma ve rehberliği, biyobanka kalite yönetimi ve standartları, biyobankacılığın geliştirilmesinin yanı sıra sosyal yardım, eğitim ve iletişim, finans ve proje yönetimi gibi hizmetleri de kapsamaktadır.
İletişim: BBMRI-ERIC, CME onaylı bir eğitim programı, Avrupa Biyobanka Haftası Yıllık Kongresi, Avrupa Biyobanka Haftası Tanıtım Gezileri gibi aktiviteler aracılığıyla biyobankacılık topluluğundaki uzmanlığı temsil eder ve geliştirir.
Türkiye, 2014 yılından beri BBMRI-ERIC’in Gözlemci Ülkesi konumundadır. Araştırma altyapısının önemli bir üyesi olmanın fayda ve etkisine değinen BBMRI Türkiye Ulusal Bilimsel Koordinatörü Neşe Atabey, şunları söyledi:
“BBMRI-ERIC ülkemizde toplumun, araştırmacı ve klinisyenlerin biyobankalar hakkında farkındalığın artmasına, biyobanka akreditasyon standartları oluşturulmasına, Türkiye’de araştırma yapmakta olan bilim insanlarınının çeşitli ulusal ve uluslararası projelere (kanser, nadir hastalıklar, bulaşıcı hastalıklar, kişiselleştirilmiş tıp) katkı sağlamasına öncülük ederek, ülkemizdeki biyobanka ağının kurulmasına ve gelişmesine vazgeçilmez katkılar sağlamıştır.”
BBMRI-ERIC’in 10. Yıldönümü çalıştayı üye devletlerin desteği ve Avusturya Federal Eğitim, Bilim ve Araştırma Bakanlığı’nın ev sahipliği ile yapıldı. Belçika Bilim Politikası Ofisi (BELSPO), Belçika’nın şu anda AB Konseyi’ne ve BBMRI-ERIC Üyeler Meclisi’ne başkanlık etmesi nedeniyle 10. Yıldönümü çalıştayına ortak ev sahipliği yapmaktadır.
Graz, 29 February 2024: Today, The European health and life science research infrastructure for biobanking and biomolecular resources, BBMRI-ERIC, marks its 10th anniversary of successful operation with a workshop at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the European Union, Brussels.
High-level engagement
The workshop opens with welcome speeches from Franz Wirtenberger, Austrian Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU, Martin Polaschek, Austrian Federal Minister of Education Science and Research, Signe Ratso, EC Deputy Director General for Research and Innovation and Arnaud Vajda, BELSPO Chairman of the Board of Directors.
On the significance of BBMRI-ERIC, Minister Polaschek says:
“The developments of BBMRI-ERIC over the past 10 years in facilitating access to human biological samples and data for health research is remarkable. Cordial congratulations to BBMRI-ERIC for all the achievements in coordinating, structuring and harmonising the biobanking landscape in Europe.”
Arnaud Vajda adds:
“BBMRI-ERIC has charted the path toward a robust and reliable distributed biobanking infrastructure meeting the demand of medical research. What BBMRI-ERIC has achieved in 10 years could not have been achieved on a smaller scale. It is now up to all of us to ensure that this path continues and improves over the next ten years and beyond.”
BBMRI-ERIC has grown to become one of the largest distributed ERICs that now comprises 25 Members and Observers. Speaking of the continuing success and groundbreaking impact of BBMRI-ERIC, Prof. Jens K. Habermann, BBMRI-ERIC Director General says:
“I am delighted by the strong support and engagement of BBMRI-ERIC member states, the European Commission and all our partners. BBMRI-ERIC with its biobanks, National Nodes, Headquarters, and various expert and stakeholder groups has matured to a fully operational and scalable distributed infrastructure. Today, BBMRI-ERIC is well set to continuously serve and engage the community in Member States and wider, as well as to implement EU priorities across the European Research Area over the next decade.”
This high-level workshop highlights examples of BBMRI-ERIC’s achievements and impact in a session featuring headquarters staff, Member State National Node Directors and key biobanking community experts.
The keynote is delivered by Prof. Walter Ricciardi, EU Cancer Mission Board Chair and Chair of the BBMRI-ERIC Scientific and Ethical Advisory Board.
The workshop then looks to the future in an open discussion with key external collaborators including Michael Arentoft, EC Head of Unit for ‘Open Science and Research Infrastructures’; Jana Klánová, EIRENE Director General; Stefanie Houwaart, BRCA Netzwerk Patient Discussion Group Leader; Niklas Blomberg, Innovative Health Initiative Executive Director; Eva Ortega Paíno, Secretary General for Research, Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Research and Jens Habermann, BBMRI-ERIC Director General. The panel focuses on the challenges in health and life sciences, needs and developments towards One Health and the role of research infrastructures.
BBMRI-ERIC was granted ERIC status (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) by the European Commission in 2013. The research infrastructure’s mission is to facilitate access to samples, data and biomolecular resources to enable high-quality research.
The event marks a decade of:
Pioneering: BBMRI-ERIC was one of the first ERICs to be set up in 2013 and one of the largest that is distributed. The research infrastructure connects over 400 biobanks across Europe and further afield with health and life science researchers. It was first to produce an IT federated platform, now deployed across multiple innovative EU projects and used beyond the BBMRI-ERIC community.
Defragmenting: By leading, developing and contributing to projects (cancer, rare diseases, infectious diseases, personalised medicine) BBMRI-ERIC defragments the European Research Area. In-house and community expertise shapes and connects major EU flagship programmes such as Cancer Mission and Beating Cancer Plan, Pandemic preparedness, European Science Cloud and European Health Data Space.
Serving: BBMRI-ERIC primarily serves the European health research community in academia and industry. This is demonstrated by taking the lead in the development of cutting edge services, namely federated IT tools, ELSI research and guidance, quality management and standards, biobanking development, as well as outreach, education and communications, public affairs and finance and project management.
Engaging: BBMRI-ERIC engages, represents and harnesses the expertise in the biobanking community through a CME accredited training programme, Europe Biobank Week Annual Congress, Europe Biobank Week Roadshows and within the governance structure that includes a unique Stakeholder Forum Patient Pillar.
Türkiye has been an Observer State of BBMRI-ERIC since 2014. Reflecting on the benefit and impact of being a key member of the research infrastructure, Neşe Atabey, National Scientific Coordinator of BBMRI Türkiye said:
“BBMRI-ERIC leads the way in increasing awareness of society, researchers, and clinicians about biobanks in our country, establishing biobank accreditation standards, and contributing to various national and international projects of Turkish researchers on cancer, rare diseases, infectious diseases, and personalized medicine. BBMRI-ERIC made truly indispensable contributions to the establishment and development of the biobank network in Turkey, Europe and beyond.”
With thanks to:
The workshop is made possible thanks to Member State support. The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research is hosting BBMRI-ERIC’s 10th Anniversary workshop. Austria is the host country for BBMRI-ERIC. The Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) is co-hosting the 10th Anniversary workshop, as Belgium currently presides over the EU Council, as well as BBMRI-ERIC Assembly of Members.
Nadir Hastalıklar ağı: BBMRI-ERIC ve Avrupa Nadir Hastalıklar Organizasyonlarının birbirleri ile ilişkileri (Mora, Marina et al. modifiye edilmiştir).
Nadir hastalıklar alanında gerçekleştirilen biyobanka faaliyetleri klinik ve moleküler araştırmalara katkıları nedeniyle kritik öneme sahiptir. Ülkemizde araştırma biyobankalarının BBMRI-ERIC standartlarında yapılanması, uluslararası kalite kontrol standartlarının uygulanması açısından başlıca gerekliliktir. BBMRI.tr Nadir Hastalıklar Çalışma Grubu tarafından bu alanda gerçekleştirilen biyobanka faaliyetlerinin belirlenmesi amacıyla nadir hastalık biyobankaları veri altyapısının oluşturmasına öncü olabilecek bir anket hazırlanmıştır. Kurumunuzda yer alan biyobanka nezdinde genel bilgileri, örneklem ve yöntem çeşitliliği, kalite yönetimi gibi konu başlıklarını içeren ankete bu linkten ulaşabilirsiniz.
Mora, Marina et al.“The EuroBioBank Network: 10 years of hands-on experience of collaborative, transnational biobanking for rare diseases.” European journal of human genetics : EJHG vol. 23,9 (2015): 1116-23. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2014.272.
In order to increase awareness on biobanks in Turkey and promote IBG-Biobank; a short film is prepared. IBG-Biobank team enjoyed very much introducing their unit during the shooting.
Çocuk Metabolizma Hastalıkları Akademisi’nin her yıl Mart ayında düzenlediği sempozyum serisi, bu yıl pandemi sebeiyle 15-16 Ekim 2021 tarihinde uzaktan erişimli olarak yapılacak.
Bu yılın sempozyumun konusu ‘Çocukluk Çağında Her Yönüyle Mitokondriyal Hastalıklar‘.
Sempozyumda, çocuk sağlığının hemen tüm ana disiplinlerini içeren klinik yaklaşım sunumları yanında, mitokondri ile ilgili ileri düzey genetik, biyokimyasal, omiks ve biyoinformatik çalışmaları içeren sunumlara yer almakta. Mitokondriyal hastalıkların tanısal yaklaşımında özel bir yere sahip olan radyolojik incelemelere de ayrı interaktif bir sunum olarak programda yer verilmiş.
İlgilenen takipçilerimiz;detaylara cmak.org.tr adresinden ulaşabilirler. Kayıtlı kişiler sempozyumu takip edebilecekler; kayıt olmak için bu linki kullanabilirsiniz.
Bilimsel programın ana başlıkları şöyle:
Mitokondri Biyolojisi ve İlişkili Yolaklar
Mitokondriyal Hastalıklarda Çoklu Sistem Tutulumu
Mitokondriyal Hastalıklarda Nörolojik Tutulum
Mitokondriyal Translasyon Bozuklukları
Mitokondriyal Hastalıklarda Omiks ve Fonksiyonel çalışmalar
The news is published in BBMRI-ERIC newsletter https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/news-events/iso-20387biotechnology-biobanking-accreditation-workshop/
The functionality, sustainability and continuous development of biobanks is only possible through the implementation of biobank quality standards. In terms of national and international sample / data transfer and advancement of research in health and life sciences through its contributions to biobanking activities, the implementation of international biobanking standards and technical documents -set up as a result of the long, meticulous work of biobank specialists- have critical significance.
The “ISO 20387: 2018: Biotechnology – Biobanking Accreditation Workshop” was held in Turkey in February under the coordination of the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TÜRKAK) for TÜRKAK’s accreditation specialists, auditors / technical specialists, as well as managers and employees of biobanks in Turkey.
The workshop was conducted online between 16-18 February 2021 within the scope of the IPA-II project “Enhancement of TÜRKAK’s Capacity in the Accreditation of Conformity Assessment Bodies” funded by the European Union (EU) and Turkey, which TÜRKAK is a beneficiary of.
On the first day of the ‘ISO 20387 – Biotechnology– Biobanking’ standards training, speeches were delivered by TÜRKAK Deputy Secretary General Dr. Kürşat Özdemir, BBMRI-ERIC Director Prof. Dr. Jens Habermann, TÜRKAK accreditation specialist Emre Durmuş and BBMRI Turkey Coordinator Prof. Dr. Neşe Atabey, informing participants on TÜRKAK’s training organisations, the BBMRI-ERIC Biobank Consortium and the BBMRI Turkey Biobank Network. Following these speeches, BBMRI Quality Manager Andrea Wutte gave training on the requirements of the ISO 20387 standard and putting these into practice. This was followed by group work on sharing information and expertise among accreditation specialists and biobankers, overcoming existing problems and sharing good practices in biobanking.
This activity contributed greatly to the harmonisation of biobanking quality standards in biobanks in Turkey, as well as accelerating the ISO 20387 accreditation process.
TRT Haber News Channel Interviews Members of IBG-Biobank on Biobanks
Esra Sayın and Ünsel Ayhan Aybek from TRT Haber news channel got together with IBG-Biobank Platform Director and BBMRI-ERIC Turkey representative Prof. Dr. Neşe Atabey, IBG-Biobank Department Manager Dr. Sanem Tercan Avcı and TUBITAK STAR scholarship students to prepare a news report on the importance of biobanks.
The video of the news report was shot at the laboratories of IBG-Biobank. The reporters spoke to Prof. Atabebey, Dr. Tercan Avcı, TUBITAK scholarship students Mustafa Karataş, Melis Çamkıranlar and Ekin Azbazdar about the definition of a biobank, the setting up of IBG-Biobank, the importance of biobanks during the Covid-19 pandemic and the other biobanks in Turkey.
This news piece was published in BBMRI-ERIC newsletter https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/news-events/ibg-biobank-a-bbmri-tr-partner-established-a-covid-19-cohort/
IBG-Biobank, the Biobank and Biomolecular Resources Platform of Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG), in partnership with Dokuz Eylul University Hospital (DEUH) and Izmir Tınaztepe Health Group Hospitals has set up a bio-cohort of Covid-19 patients and controls.
Establishment of the cohorts has made IBG-Biobank a centralized resource which transfers, processes, stores, and disseminates the biological specimens and clinical data for the vaccine and drug development studies supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), as well as Covid-19 diagnostic kit development projects and research projects designed to understand the mechanisms of disease severity.
As we all witnessed, rapid establishment of these valuable and non-renewable resources has been critical for improving the understanding and management of this life-threatening disease. In the beginning of pandemic; the informative and comprehensive web-conferences -such as the one organized by BBMRI-ERIC Quality Management Team on “Biobanking in times of Covid-19”- have accelerated the start-up process of the cohort; especially in terms of the adaptation of the patient consent forms, the follow-up forms for transferring, collecting, processing and storing the biological samples, as well as the standard operating procedures based on Covid-19 CDC & WHO guidelines. Thanks to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), that started up a Covid-19 fellowship scheme, young researchers could be trained and contribute to the labor-intensive Covid-19 biobanking process.
IBG-Biobank started to collect the COVID-19 biological samples in June. So far; the biological samples of a total of 5136 patients with different disease severity and controls have been archived. Bio-specimen included nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swab samples (inactivated samples), serum/plasma, and whole blood.
It has been clear that in the situations like a global pandemia; individual and/or regional solutions are not sufficient, and global health crisises can only be overcomed by scientific awareness, cooperation and coordination. BBMRI-ERIC has made extraordinary efforts to achieve these cooperation and collaborations. As IBG-Biobank and BBMRI.tr partner, we would like to thank everyone involved in BBMRI-ERIC directory, QM-team and communication office for all their comprehensive support and guidance.
Each year, the last day of February is marked as the International Rare Diseases Day. The main aim is to raise awareness amongst the public and decision-makers on the impact of Rare Diseases on the patients, their families and the public.
In Turkey, the number of events and informative meetings organized for this day is increasing more and more each year.
We have put some of these events together in this post. Just note that; they are all on-line so you will have access from anywhere:
1- Hacettepe University Center for Genomics and Rare Diseases (HUGEN) organized an online educational meeting for the Rare Diseases Day that will take place on February 26th 2021 starting at 14:00.
2- There will be an on-line symposium organized by Ankara City Hospital, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University and the University of Health Sciences on February 28th 2021 between 13:15-17:00.
You can use this link to register to the symposium
3- Ministry of Health of Turkey and TUSEB (Health Institutes of Turkey) organized an online symposium to increase the awareness on Rare Diseases that will take place on February 26th Friday between 9:30 and 16:30. You can register the event from this link. Hurry up, the registrations are closing soon.!
4- Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs Application and Research Center-ACURARE’s event will be held on February 28th between 13:30 and 16:00. Please check the leaflet below for details.
