shared services for life-science

BBMRI-ERIC will increase efficacy and excellence of European bio-medical research by facilitating fair access to quality-defined human health/disease-relevant biological resources through the inclusion of associated data in an efficient and ethically and legally compliant manner; by reducing the fragmentation of the bio-medical research landscape through harmonisation of procedures, implementation of common standards and fostering high-level collaboration; and by capacity-building in countries with less developed biobanking communities thereby contributing to Europe's cohesion policy and strengthening the ERA.

The EU’s ageing population is resulting in an increase in many of those diseases and consequently an increased healthcare expenditure for senior citizens that place pressure on the sustainability and viability of the EU’s healthcare systems. Through BBMRI-ERIC, biobanks and biomolecular resources shall develop into one of the most important tools for biomedical and clinical discovery. New medical applications, new therapies, new preventive techniques, new diagnostics, personalised or stratified medicine, and new biomedical industries shall evolve to improve socio-economic competitiveness and increase possibilities for equitable healthcare in Europe. The anticipated development shall pave the way for a new research culture in Europe. Expectantly, BBMRI-ERIC will have an impact on partnerships with patients/donors, who know that their own tissues, samples and personal data can yield discoveries and advances in medicine, diagnostics, and therapies. In return, BBMRI-ERIC is taking up the responsibility to make sure that the samples and data that have been entrusted for research are used in the best way possible for the advancement of knowledge, ultimately contributing to improved health care.
The key benefits for users of BBMRI-ERIC are fair access to quality-controlled samples and/or data from population-based, disease-oriented or rare disease biobanks including expertise in handling these biological resources for scientific purposes (ethical, legal and societal issues as well as quality handling). BBMRI-ERIC connects a distributed research infrastructure of biobanks and biomolecular resources for the benefit of the users of such resources. It puts pan-European biobanks on the map and promotes their specific strengths. BBMRI increases the accessibility to quality controlled human biological samples and associated biomedical and biomolecular data in making them findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Ultimately, this is key for advancing stratified and precision medicine.