BBMRI-ERIC at the ECR 2016 on integrating biobanking with imaging data: bringing added value to diagnostics and research

Brussels/Vienna, 3 March 2016 - Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructures – European Research Infrastructure Consortium (BBMRI-ERIC) will take part in the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2016. ECR is an annual meeting of the European Society of Radiology (ESR), this year taking place on 2-6 March in Vienna, Austria.

BBMRI-ERIC and ESR will jointly hold a Professional Challenges Session entitled Biobanks meet Imaging on Friday, 4 March 2016, exploring the need for an imaging data repository to facilitate personalized medicine, clinical trials, and evaluation of new drugs. Markus Pasterk, BBMRI-ERIC’s Administrative Director, will co-moderate the panel session. Prof. Jan-Eric Litton, Director General of BBMRI-ERIC, will explain the functioning of BBMRI-ERIC, Michaela T. Mayrhofer, BBMRI-ERIC’s senior project manager, will highlight the data (over)protection aspect, and Outi Törnwall, EU Project Manager at BBMRI-ERIC, will focus on population-based cohort biobanks.

BBMRI-ERIC and ESR established an official collaboration in November 2015, signing a Memorandum of Understanding, which will facilitate development in the integration of imaging data with biobank databases. The main goals of the collaboration are to promote the importance and visibility of biomarkers, to coordinate efforts to establish a European imaging biobank infrastructure, and to ensure its linking to existing biobanks.

Prof. Jan-Eric Litton, Director General of BBMRI-ERIC, said ahead of the event: »Imaging is going to play an important role in both digital pathology and biobanking, especially for phenotyping and biomarkers. Therefore, the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructures – European Research Infrastructure Consortium (BBMRI-ERIC) have decided to collaborate for speeding up this important innovation for diagnostics and research.«


For BBMRI-ERIC, please contact:
Michaela Th. Mayrhofer PhD, Senior Project Manager, BBMRI-ERIC
Email: [e-mail], tel: + 43 316 34 99 17-13

For Media, please contact:
Luc Deltombe, Communication/finance assistant, BBMRI-ERIC
Email: [e-mail], tel: + 43 316 34 99 17-21

or

Declan Kirrane, Managing Director, ISC
Email: [e-mail], tel: + 32 2 8888114


Editor’s note

BBMRI-ERIC is a pan-European research infrastructure which provides access to quality controlled human biological samples, such as blood, tissues, cells or DNA, and associated clinical and research data. It aims to establish, operate and develop a pan-European distributed research infrastructure of biobanks and biomolecular resources in order to facilitate the access to resources as well as facilities and to support high quality biomolecular and medical research. BBMRI-ERIC operates on a non-economic basis. BBMRI-ERIC is set up as a distributed research infrastructure in most, if not all European member states. Including the United Kingdom as its latest member, BBMRI-ERIC consists as of today of 17 member states and one international organisation, making it one of the largest research infrastructures for health research in Europe.

In the coming months BBMRI-ERIC will participate in several other prominent events related to its field of expertise, among others they will take part in the 1st Conference on Social Impact of Science in taking place on 25-29 July 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, and in the European Biobank Week, taking place on 13-16 September 2016 in Vienna, Austria.

European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2016 is organized by the European Society of Radiology (ESR), founded in February 2005 by merging the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) and the European Association of Radiology (EAR), thus establishing a single house of radiology in Europe.

Länder

Austria