BBMRI-ERIC Podcast

“Healthcare biobanking and healthcare biobanks are playing an increasingly important role, not only in the biomedical research, but also in transferring knowledge to the health system”. Marialuisa Lavitrano, National Node Director, BBMRI.it. This is part two of a two part podcast which shares impact stories from across BBMRI-ERIC’s Member States and communities that were presented at the BBMRI-ERIC 10th anniversary workshop. Each story highlights the diverse expertise and significant impact of the research infrastructure that our community helps shape and benefits from. In this episode, you will hear impact stories from Quality Management and Biobanking Development, presented by Andrea Wutte, Head of BBMRI QM, and Saba Abdulghani, Head of BBMRI Biobanking Development. You will first meet Lila Kallio, Auria Biobank Director and Marialuisa Lavitrano, National Node Director of BBMRI Italy. Then you will hear impact stories from Katerina Novakova, representing BBMRI Czech Republic and Maria Judit Molnar, National Node Director of BBMRI Hungary. Listen to part one to hear stories from our IT Service and ELSI services and research: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/news-events/new-podcast-episode-10th-anniversary-impact-stories-part-one/ Learn more about BBMRI-ERIC: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu

Meet Dr. Ángel Álvarez-Prado, principal investigator at the Translational Cancer Immunogenomics Lab at the Luxembourg Institute of Health. His journey took him from a curious child and self-described “computer nerd” to the head of his own laboratory, dedicated to advancing cancer treatment. Ángel first crossed paths with BBMRI-ERIC in 2023 while working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Lausanne. He was selected to participate in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, an annual event where young scientists have the rare opportunity to engage with Nobel Laureates and explore breakthroughs in their fields. BBMRI-ERIC sponsored Ángel’s participation and the experience helped spark his motivation to become independent and establish his own translational research lab. Later, as his dream of building a lab began to take shape, Ángel started analysing clinical samples and BBMRI-ERIC played a key role by helping him identify suitable collections for his research and by streamlining access to them. In today’s episode, Angel shares his research, his vision for personalised cancer therapies and offers advice to aspiring scientists considering a career in research. Further reading: Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting: https://www.lindau-nobel.org/ BBMRI Podcast: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/bbmri-eric/bbmri-eric-podcast/

Visit day four of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast.  During these episodes, you’ll experience the congress as it happens in Bologna, Italy from 13-16 May 2025. You’ll get a flavour of the event from interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates. If you missed day three, find it at Europe-biobank-week-dot-eu. EBW is a yearly congress jointly organised between BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB. It unites over 800 biobankers, researchers, industry specialists and decision makers for keynotes, workshops, industry talks and parallel sessions over four days. This final episode, recorded on 16 May, is when congress winds down but the pace is no slower with a vibrant Ethics Café, a set of parallel sessions and the closing ceremony.  Contributors to the episode, as they appear, are: Dr. Jörg Hamann, Amsterdam University Medical Center Dr. Gesine Richter, University Kiel Prof. Prof. Roland Jahns, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg Prof. Ali Kilic, Izmir Biomedicine And Genome Center Mariona Arañó Loyo, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu Dr. Maria Grazia Cerrito, University of Milano Bicocca Dr. Mindaugas Morkunas, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos Elsa Roland, Oslo University Hospital Patrick Skowronek, German Cancer Research Center (dkfz) Links: Sant Joan de Déu: https://www.sjdhospitalbarcelona.org/en Closing ceremony award recipients: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu/ebw-news/ebw25-live/ebw25-live-closing-ceremony/ Europe Biobank Week: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu BBMRI-ERIC: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu ESBB: https://esbb.org

Visit day three of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast.  Europe Biobank Week Congress is happening in Bologna, Italy from 13-16 May 2025. You’ll hear a flavour of the event through interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates. If you missed day one, find it at the Europe Biobank Week website.   EBW is the most important event of the year for the global biobanking community. A yearly congress, jointly organised between BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB, it unites over 800 biobankers, researchers, industry specialists and decision makers from across the life sciences to discuss the latest innovative research and industry changes. It features keynotes, parallel sessions and workshops and is held over four days. This episode, recorded on 15 May, is when congress is in full swing. Contributors to the episode, as they appear, are: Istahil Mohammed Ibrahim, Statens Serum Institut Adrie Kromhout, Amsterdam University Medical Center Prof. Professor Mait Metspalu, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu Donal Melanaphy, Thermo Fisher Scientific Tania Porqueddu, Università Di Sassari Dr. Gianni D’Errico, Toscana Life Sciences Dr. Piotr Mrówka, Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine Dr. Mignon van Gent, Amsterdam University Medical Centre Links: Estonian Biobank: https://genomics.ut.ee/en/content/estonian-biobank EP PerMed: https://www.eppermed.eu/ Europe Biobank Week: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu BBMRI-ERIC: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu ESBB: https://esbb.org

Visit day two of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast.  Europe Biobank Week Congress is happening in Bologna, Italy from 13-16 May 2025. You’ll hear a flavour of the event through interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates. If you missed day one, find it at the Europe Biobank Week website.   EBW is the most important event of the year for the global biobanking community. A yearly congress, jointly organised between BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB, it unites over 800 biobankers, researchers, industry specialists and decision makers from across the life sciences to discuss the latest innovative research and industry changes. It features keynotes, parallel sessions and workshops and is held over four days. This episode, recorded on 14 May, is when congress kicked off the scientific programme and covers the highlights. Contributors to the episode, as they appear, are: Prof. Antonio Zoccoli, President of the ICSC Prof. Walter Ricciardi, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome Dr. Nicola Miller, School of Medicine, University of Galway Zohaib Hassan, German Biobank Node Prof. Elke Smits, Antwerp University Hospital and ESBB Ambassador Dr. Ricard Martinez, University of Valencia Dipl.-Ing. Roland Leiminger, ESBB Prof. Jens K Habermann, BBMRI-ERIC Links: Europe Biobank Week: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu BBMRI-ERIC: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu ESBB: https://esbb.org ICSC: https://www.supercomputing-icsc.it/en/

Visit day one of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast.  Europe Biobank Week Congress is happening in Bologna, Italy from 13-16 May 2025. You’ll hear a flavour of the event through interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates.  EBW is the most important event of the year for the global biobanking community. A yearly congress, jointly organised between BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB, it unites over 700 biobankers, researchers, industry specialists and decision makers from across the life sciences to discuss the latest innovative research and industry changes. It features keynotes, parallel sessions and workshops and is held over four days. This episode takes you to the first day - 13 May - which hosts several workshops run by experts within their field. Learn what makes the workshops unique and how they’re valued as education opportunities by delegates. Contributors to the episode, as they appear, are: Prof. Antonino Rotolo, Università di Bologna Dr. Nabila Choudhry - Research Analyst-Ethicist at WCM-Q Hugas Jasinskas, IT Specialist from The Biobank of Lithuanian Population and Rare Disorders Prof. Marialuisa Lavitrano, National Node Director for BBMRI Italy Dr. Sissy Kolyva, Hellenic Pasteur Institute Athens Stella Antoniou, Quality Manager at. BMRI-ERIC Dr. Marta Sobalska-Kwapis, Centre for Digital Biology and Biomedical Science - Biobank Lodz Links: Europe Biobank Week: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu BBMRI-ERIC: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu ESBB: https://esbb.org

“AI systems need to be human centric, they should serve humanity and the common good” Episode 26 takes you to a webinar on developing strategies for a trustworthy AI explored at the example of South-eastern Asia. After a quick introduction on how the European Union approaches this challenge, Thilma Komaling, one of the authors of Indonesia’s strategy on Artificial, takes you her home country where AI-assisted tools already help to improve broad access to health care. Thilma shares her more than 20 years of experience in policy development here in this webinar organised by the BBMRI-ERIC ELSI team. ELSI specialises in addressing ethical, legal and societal implications of biobanking and the responsible use of sensitive data and new technologies. The transformative potential of AI will not stop at national borders and so we can all profit from exchanging our experiences to use this technology for the best of society. Together with Thilma, Ilaria Colussi, one of BBMRI-ERIC’s legal experts, explores the common ground between the EU’s and Indonesia’s approach to a trustworthy AI. “We need something very close to the heart of the people of Indonesia, because this is something that needs to be originally from Indonesia. What we believe and what we want to carry forward as a nation.” Indondesia explores a strategy that builds on the country’s core values to find a human-centered apporach to responsibly integrate this highly transformative technology into the daily live. One example is Halodoc, an AI-assisted app, that allows Indonesia’s citizens access to health-related advise and information even in the remotest areas of the large, archipelagic country with its hundreds of languages. Further reading (in order of contribution): EU guidelines on trustworthy AI: https://www.aepd.es/sites/default/files/2019-12/ai-ethics-guidelines.pdf Indonesia’s strategy for Artificial Intelligence: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/Trade-General/Trade-Market-reports/Indonesias-National-Strategy-for-Artificial-Intelligence-July-2023.pdf ELSI Dialogues on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSrgDBZUUDQ&list=PLIu6KJ19npXy_HLjqtxNuXrB1XkADjWzP ELSI services: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/elsi/

“Without the patient citizen’s data, there is no future for research” This episode takes you to a workshop on information points for citizens under the European Health Data space. The workshop is jointly organised under the EHDS2Pilot project by BBMRI-ERIC’s ethical, legal and societal implications team and the Spanish Research Council in Brussels – CSIC where the workshop is being held.   The project brings together 17 partners including health data access bodies, health data sharing infrastructures and European agencies with the aim to build a pilot version of the European Health Data Space (EHDS) infrastructure for the secondary use of health data – known as “HealthData@EU” - which will serve research, innovation, policy making and regulatory purposes.    The outcome is for the consortium to collaborate closely with the European Commission and their team working on developing the central services for secondary use of health data.    Why does this matter? Under EHDS, citizens will have an opt out right in Europe so they need to be made aware their data may be used outside the immediate healthcare context. EHDS has provisions for individual control of data. How much should you make citizens aware of the use of their data and opt out rights?   This is a major topic that is being debated in political spaces and across European health communities. That’s because, if you care about how your health data might be used for research, EHDS is relevant to you.   The podcast explores how best to communicate with citizens that their rights are taken seriously, that they can keep in control of their data and its use, and to fulfil the legal obligations under the EHDS regulation.   Join patient organisations, experts and policy makers as they discuss the varied concepts that exist in the EU. You’ll hear about successful initiatives for informing the public about ongoing data sharing activities, as well as understanding past communication failures to give you a better understanding of what will help foster the implementation of the upcoming EHDS Regulation.   Further reading (in order of contribution): BBMRI-ERIC ELSI: bbmri-eric.eu/elsi/ EHDS2Pilot Project: ehds2pilot.eu Spanish Research Council: csic.es/en/csic European Patient’s Forum: eu-patient.eu ELGA: elga.gv.at Kristiania University: kristiania.no/en/about-kristiania/employees/school-of-communication-leadership-and-marketing/departement-of-communication/audra-diers-lawson/ CPME: cpme.eu EFPIA: efpia.eu Digital Europe: digitaleurope.org French Health Data Hub: www.health-data-hub.fr/ FINData: findata.fi/en/ MyGenome Portal: portaal.geenidoonor.ee/sisselogimine German Portal for Medical Research Data: medizininformatik-initiative.de/en/medical-research-request-health-data-centrally Health Data Lab: healthdatalab.de HIQA: hiqa.ie/about-us EHDS - European Commission: health.ec.europa.eu/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/european-health-data-space_en

Episode 24 introduces you to the canSERV project that focuses on providing over 400 cutting-edge and customised cancer research services. BBMRI-ERIC acts as coordinator for canSERV. The services and tools are made available to the cancer research community EU wide, enable innovative R&D projects and foster precision medicine for patients’ benefit across Europe. Experts from the project walk listeners through its 4th Challenge-Driven Call on “Training the Next Generation of Cancer Researchers”. Early Career Cancer Researchers, for example first-stage researchers (PhD students, junior researchers without PhD), or recognised researchers (postdocs, assistant professors, young investigators) world-wide are invited to apply for free access to cutting-edge transnational services with an indicative overall budget for this call of EUR 500,000. The primary objective of this call is to empower early career scientists through access to research services and training in order to advance their scientific merits and careers. Originally a live webinar, the podcast is presented by canSERV consortium members Saba Abdulghani, Jens Habermann, Vitor Martin Dos Santos, Enzo Medico, Manuela Pausan and Pauline Audergon. The Q&A that followed after is being developed into a FAQ. Explore the project, and apply to the Open Call, by visiting the canSERV website: https://www.canserv.eu

“You cannot be a proper researcher without curiosity and curiosity is not only just for science, it’s for living.” Meet Eva Ortega-Paino who, until recently was National Node Director for Spain. This episode profiles her career which has taken her to Secretary General for Research, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Spain. Spain joined BBMRI-ERIC as an observer three years ago and Eva was their first Director based at the Spanish National Platform for Biobank and Biomodels - Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Eva was far from new to biobanking, having already been involved with BBMRI Sweden. In fact, Eva’s career spans 32-years; it started with a PhD in Chemical Sciences and includes experience across several sectors - academic research, healthcare, industry and the third sector. As she settles into her role at the Ministry, we thought it would be a good time to explore her achievements and hear her advice for young researchers. Further reading: BBMRI Spain: https://www.isciiibiobanksbiomodels.es/en/ BBMRI Podcast: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/bbmri-eric/bbmri-eric-podcast/ Eva’s Ministry profile page: https://www.ciencia.gob.es/en/Ministerio/Altos-cargos/Secretaria-general-de-investigacion.html Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities: https://www.ciencia.gob.es/en/

Welcome to this Europe Biobank Week Congress Radio special. It recorded live from the Europe Biobank Week Congress that happened in Vienna, Austria from 14-17 May 2024. The EBW Congress highlights cutting-edge biobanking innovations and research. Held over four days, it featured expert workshops, keynotes, over 85 oral and 140 poster presentations from across the biobanking community. This episode features the State-of-the-Art speech delivered by Dr. Bo Franzén, Senior Researcher at Cancer Centre Karolinska of the Karolinska Institutet, during the Quality Management and Pre-Analytics session. About Karolinska Institutet Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. Karolinska Institutet accounts for the single largest share of all academic medical research conducted in Sweden and offers the country’s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine. The tilte of Dr. Franzén’s talk is: ‘Minimally invasive fine needle aspiration-based molecular diagnostics in support of precision cancer medicine’ and it was delivered in the Hofburg’s Zeremoniensaal. Resources Karolinska Institutet: https://ki.se/en Minimally invasive fine needle aspiration-based molecular diagnostics in support of precision cancer medicine: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38519839/ Europe Biobank Week 2024 – Day Three: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu/ebw24live/ebw24-live-congress-radio-europe-biobank-week-2024-day-three/ Europe Biobank Week Podcasts: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu/tag/podcast/

Welcome to this Europe Biobank Week Congress Radio special. It was recorded live at the Europe Biobank Week Congress that happened in Vienna, Austria from 14-17 May 2024. The EBW Congress highlights cutting-edge biobanking innovations and research. Held over four days, it featured expert workshops, keynotes, over 85 oral and 140 poster presentations from across the biobanking community. Keynotes are an opportunity to hear from leading experts in the field. This episode features the second keynote of the congress, delivered by Dr Gillian Bartlett, Associate Dean for Graduate Research Education, University of Missouri and Co-Director of the SOM Umbrella PhD Program. About underrepresented populations The title of Dr. Bartlett’s talk is ‘Biobanking with Underrepresented Populations: The Critical Role of Participant engagement’ and it was delivered to a packed plenary hall. Dr. Bartlett underscores the importance of including still underrepresented populations in medical research with examples from e.g., the All of Us research programme. Resources All of Us Research Programme: https://allofus.nih.gov/ Dr. Gillian Bartlett EBW24 news article: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu/ebw24live/ebw24live-dr-gillian-bartlett-university-of-missouri-delivers-keynote-lecture-ii-biobanking-with-underrepresented-populations-the-critical-role-of-participant/ Short interview at EBW24: https://www.europebiobankweek.eu/ebw24live/ebw24-live-congress-radio-europe-biobank-week-2024-day-three/ Europe Biobank Week Podcasts: www.europebiobankweek.eu/tag/podcast/

Welcome to this Europe Biobank Week Congress Radio special. It recorded live from the Europe Biobank Week Congress that happened in Vienna, Austria from 14-17 May 2024. The EBW Congress highlights cutting-edge biobanking innovations and research. Held over four days, it featured expert workshops, keynotes, over 85 oral and 140 poster presentations from across the biobanking community.   Keynotes are an opportunity to hear from leading experts in the field. This episode features the first keynote that was delivered by Sir Rory Collins, Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of UK Biobank.   About UK Biobank The biobank involves 500,000 participants and it is the largest deeply characterised prospective study available for any type of health research that is in the public interest. More than 30,000 researchers worldwide currently use it and generated more than 3000 papers in 2023 alone.   The title of Prof. Collins' talk is ‘UK Biobank: scale, depth, duration … but, most importantly, accessibility’ and it was delivered to a packed plenary hall. We interviewed Sir Rory to ask what he hoped delegates would take from his talk. You can find that piece within day two of #EBW24 Congress Radio found at europebiobankweek.eu Resources UK Biobank: www.ukbiobank.ac.uk Sir Rory Collins EBW24 abstract: www.europebiobankweek.eu/ebw24-previews/ebw24-previews-keynote-with-sir-rory-collins/ Europe Biobank Week Podcasts: www.europebiobankweek.eu/tag/podcast/

Visit the fourth and final day of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast. Europe Biobank Week Congress is happening in Vienna, Austria from 14-17 May 2024. You’ll hear a flavour of the event and key interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates. EBW is the most important event of the year for the global biobanking community. The congress highlights cutting-edge biobanking innovations and research by featuring keynote presentations, panels and workshops. This episode features contributions from: - Prof. Josef Haas, Medical University Graz - Naila Loudini, UMC Utrecht - Nikolai Pace, University of Malta - Congress delegates: Stefan Kummer - VetBiobank, Julia Huber - Universitätsklinikum Freiburg - CCCF-Biobank, Massimiliano Borsani - CNR - BBMRI.it and Nhutuyen Nguyen - German Biobank Node See you next year in Bologna, Italy, for #EBW25? More information: EBW: europebiobankweek.eu Twitter: twitter.com/BiobankWeek LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/europe-biobank-week

Visit day three of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast. Europe Biobank Week Congress is happening in Vienna, Austria from 14-17 May 2024. You’ll hear a flavour of the event and key interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates.   EBW is the most important event of the year for the global biobanking community. The congress highlights cutting-edge biobanking innovations and research by featuring keynote presentations, panels and workshops. This episode features contributions from: - Dr. Ayat Salman, ESBB - Dr. Gillian Barlett, Associate Dean for Graduate Research Education at the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri - Congress delegates - Michael Neumann and Marthe Bierens - Poster and oral presenters - Annemieke De Wilde, Emanuel Sander, Andrea Wutte, Rogier van der Stijl and Bo Franzén More information: EBW: europebiobankweek.eu Research All of Us: www.researchallofus.org Minimally invasive fine needle aspiration-based molecular diagnostics in support of precision cancer medicine : https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38519839/ Twitter: twitter.com/BiobankWeek LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/europe-biobank-week

Visit day two of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast. Europe Biobank Week Congress is happening in Vienna, Austria from 14-17 May 2024. You’ll hear a flavour of the event and key interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates.   EBW is the most important event of the year for the global biobanking community. The congress highlights cutting-edge biobanking innovations and research by featuring keynote presentations, panels and workshops. This episode features contributions from: - Professor Martin Polaschek, Austrian Federal Minister of Education Science and Research - Sir Rory Collins, Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of UK Biobank - Dr Annelies Debucquoy and Dr Ronny Baber, EBW24 Programme Committee members - EBW24 congress delegates - Francesca Trapani, Scientific Director/ Group Leader presso Boehringer Ingelheim - Kirsten Tief-Kuery, Sales Leader Genetic Analysis EMEA, Thermo Fisher Scientific - The Lerchenfeld Quartett More information: www.europebiobankweek.eu Twitter: twitter.com/BiobankWeek LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/europe-biobank-week The Lerchenfeld Quarter: lerchenfeldquartett.com

Visit day one of the Europe Biobank Week Congress in this mini-series covering the event - part of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast. Europe Biobank Week Congress is happening in Vienna, Austria from 14-17 May 2024. You’ll hear a flavour of the event and key interviews with organisers, speakers and delegates.   EBW, organised by BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB, is the most important event of the year for the global biobanking community. The congress highlights cutting-edge biobanking innovations and research by featuring keynote presentations, panels and workshops. This episode features Prof. Jens K Habermann, BBMRI-ERIC Director General, and Dr. Ayat Salman, ESBB President, who discuss the significance of the congress. You will also hear from Roland Leiminger and Rolf Morselt who are steering committee members and facilitate sponsorship support of the congress. More information: www.europebiobankweek.eu Twitter: twitter.com/BiobankWeek LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/europe-biobank-week

“I would say that being in BBMRI-ERIC is a very good thing: it makes you sure that you are doing great things and you are going along with other countries which are much bigger, with more resources, more scientist, everything more” Andres Metspalu, BBMRI.ee. This is a two-part episode which shares stories from across BBMRI-ERIC’s Member States and communities that were presented at the BBMRI-ERIC 10th anniversary workshop. Each story demonstrates the wide-ranging expertise and impact of the research infrastructure that our community both shapes and benefits from. In this episode, you will hear impact stories from our IT and ELSI services introduced by Petr Holub, BBMRI-ERIC Chief Information Officer, and Michaela Th. Mayrhofer, Head of BBMRI ELSI. You will first meet Andres Metspalu, representing BBMRI.ee and Michael Hummel, representing the German National Node. These are followed by two impact stories from Annelies Debucquoy and Zisis Kozlakidis, respectively National Node Director for Belgium and IARC/WHO. Learn more about BBMRI-ERIC: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu

“We as scientists, we as professionals, we as leaders have to first of all realise how the situation is changing, a change of epoch, and how to manage. Because for the first time, the dams that shaped our security are trying to break.” This episode shares the keynote address delivered by Professor Walter Ricciardi at the BBMRI-ERIC 10th anniversary workshop. The anniversary event was held at the Permanent Representation of Austria to the European Union, Brussels on 29 February 2024 and brought together key members of the biobanking community to explore BBMRI-ERIC’s impact as a research infrastructure over the last ten years and look to the future. We were delighted, and privileged, that the 10th anniversary keynote was delivered by Prof. Walter Ricciardi who is the EU Cancer Mission Board Chair and Chair of the BBMRI-ERIC Scientific and Ethical Advisory Board. Walter has been a key advisor for BBMRI-ERIC over a number of years and shares our strong vision on the importance of health and life science research for societal wellbeing. He also understands the vital role that biobanks play in this. Prof. Ricciardi is full Professor of Hygiene and Director of the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) (Rome). He is Chair of Mission Board for Cancer (EC), Scientific Committee of Human Technopole Foundation, European Mission Board for vaccination. In this talk, Professor Ricciardi presents an urgent case for science in an age when we are facing multiple pressures on our health that is intrinsically linked to the health of our planet. You will hear him link to the EU Mission on Cancer and the vital role that policy makers play in supporting the work of research infrastructures, such as BBMRI-ERIC, to drive forward innovative approaches, standards and research into solving major health challenges. Learn more about BBMRI-ERIC: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu

Episode 12 introduces you to the canSERV project that focuses on providing over 400 cutting-edge and customised cancer research services. BBMRI-ERIC acts as coordinator for canSERV. The services and tools are made available to the cancer research community EU wide, enable innovative R&D projects and foster precision medicine for patients’ benefit across Europe. Experts from the project walk listeners through the Open Call - taking applications until 4 January 2024. Originally a live webinar, the podcast is presented by canSERV consortium members Saba Abdulghani, Jens Habermann, Enzo Medico, Manuela Pausan and Judit Balogh. The Q&A that followed after is being developed into a FAQ. Explore the project, and apply to the Open Call, by visiting the canSERV website. canSERV: https://www.canserv.eu/ Open Call: https://www.canserv.eu/calls/open-call-for-transnational-service-provision/