Mental Health Biobank Bonn
The Mental Health Biobank Bonn (MHBB) is a core facility at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and the Division for Psychiatric Genomics of the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn. Its mission is to establish a biomedical database and research resource to provide researchers access to biological samples and in-depth phenotypes of individuals with mental health disorders and healthy control individuals recruited in quotidian clinical practice or via clinical studies at the Department of Psychiatry at the University Hospital Bonn as well as collaborating sites. It comprehensively includes patients from all diagnostic spectra as well as individuals without a mental health diagnosis.
The MHBB also collaborates with other Biobanks and research networks aiming to further our understanding of mental health. As part of multi-site projects, MHBB also stores bio samples collected at other collaborating sites from across Germany.
Bio samples (DNA & RNA from whole blood, plasma, serum, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), saliva, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, stool , and hair) as well as clinical information are collected, managed, and stored using state-of-the-art IT infrastructure like the biobank management system CentraXX (Kairos, Bochum, Deutschland) administered by the Central Biobank of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bonn or the clinical database REDCap. Additional clinical data are available via electronic health records.
The collected data is processed by experienced technicians and researchers following documented standard operation procedures (SOPs), in accordance with good laboratory practice (GLP) guidelines. Biosamples are stored at -80°C and -150°C, as appropriate.
Help us understand mental health disorders !
The MHBB is a large research program designed for long-term storage of biological samples, such as blood and hair, as well as clinical data. It has been built to support researchers in understanding the development and course of mental disorders (such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, ADHD, depression, anxiety disorders, dementia and addictions). To achieve this goal, we need biological samples and clinical data from patients, their relatives and individuals without a known mental disorder. By participating in the MHBB you can help us to better understand, treat, and hopefully in the future even prevent diseases that might affect your mental health, that of your family and that of future generations.
- If you are interested in becoming a participant of the MHBB contact your physician, in case you are treated as an in- or –outpatient at our hospital orwrite an email to :
- Your participation is voluntary. You can withdraw your consent at any time.
- The collected biological samples and clinical data are stored or archived in deidentified form, in accordance with the current EU data protection guidelines and will only be used for research purposes.
- If you decide to participate, we will ask you to donate 50 ml of blood and, if you want to, other easily accessible bio samples (e.g. urine or har) and ask you to answer questions about yourself and your medical history. This will happen only once and you will not need to return for follow-up visits unless you specifically allow us to recontact you.
We are pleased when our patients participate in the Mental Health Biobank Bonn. Please contact your attending physician or send us an e-mail :
To request datasets or biological samples (DNA & RNA from whole blood, plasma, serum, PBMCs, cerebrospinal fluid, urin, stool , and hair), please contact us at . We are happy to help and collaborate with you!
