BioBank

The BioBank Bonn is a service facility of the Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn. It is directly under the Dean’s office and is organizationally located in the Institute of Pathology, the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology (IKCKP) and the Institute of Medical Biometry, Informatics, and Epidemiology (IMBIE) at the University Hospital Bonn.

The task of BioBank Bonn is to facilitate and support clinical-translational research as well as basic reserach, e.g. for the development of diganostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers for certain diseases, at the Unversity Bonn. BioBank Bonn accomplishes this task by collecting, storing, providing and, if necessary, processing biomaterials and their derivatives. The biomaterials are processed in accordance to standard operating procedures (SOPs) and under controlled quality standards in order to ensure a consistently high quality of biomaterilas for reliable biological analyses. In addition to the storage of human biomaterials, associated data provided by the researchers can also be stored in the BioBank Bonn databases. Personal and therapy-related data of the biomaterials can also be collected and stored. This is only done with the patient's consent. The databased structure and the IT processes of BioBank Bonn are set up in compliance with data protection, personal rights and ethical guidelines. The data is subject to constant quality control with regard to completeness an accuracy.

As a partner of the German Biobank Alliance (GBA), BioBank Bonn is also associated with European biobank network BBMRI-ERIC (Biobanking an Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure - European Research Infrastructure Consortium) and is represented there by the German Biobank Node (GBN). The BBMRI establishes common quality standards and builds a pan-European biobank research infrastructure to facilitate access to biospecimens and associated data as research resources and to support high quality biomedical translational research.

In principle, all institutes and clinics of teh University Hospital Bonn can use the services of BioBank Bonn by submitting a standardized application provided by Biobank Bonn. The transfer of requested samples and their associated data only takes place after a positve evaluation of research project by an ethics commitee and with the written consent of the sample collector if sample are requested from others. This means that the collector always has the authority to Veto the provision of samples. In the case of conflict, the Steering Committee of BioBank Bonn decides on the distribution of samples.

Please note: In publications in which BioBank Bonn is involved, reference must be included in the acknowledgements or in another appropriate manner.