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  • Bologna, Italy
Full Programme – 2024

Full Programme – 2024

The full programme is also available on the WHOVA website and app. There is also a downloadable A5 PDF version.

Abstract books

Full abstracts are available as PDF books. Downloads: Posters and Orals.

Pre congress day workshops – Tuesday 14 May

The registration for this pre-congress day must be done online as part of the workshop booking form. Please allow time to collect your badge from registration before attending. You can find the workshop information here.

Scientific programme – Wednesday 15 May

Time/location 
08:00
Botschafterstiege
Registration desk opens
08:00Exhibition opens
09:00
Zeremoniensaal
Opening ceremony
With ESBB/BBMRI-ERIC leadership, Martin Polaschek – Austrian Federal Minister of Education Science and Research and BBMRI.at
10:30
Festsaal
Refreshments, exhibition and posters
11:00
Zeremoniensaal
Plenary: Keynote lecture I
Track One: One Health & Precision Medicine


Title: Biobanking for Precision and Genomics Medicine. UK Biobank: scale, depth, duration … but, most importantly, accessibility
Keynote speakerSir Rory Collins, Principal Investigator and Chief Executive, UK Biobank.
Chairs: Jens Habermann & Ayat Salman
13:30
Festsaal
Lunch, exhibition and corporate workshop (Open Specimen – 12:34-13:45)
14:00Parallel sessions I
ZeremoniensaalTrack One: One Health & Precision Medicine
T1 – Role of biobanks in the future of healthcare research
Chairs: Ayat Salman & Sara Nussbeck 

Boehringer Ingelheim session sponsor: Our story

State of the Art Speaker: Agnieszka Matera-Witkiewicz: DISRUPTOR in Wroclaw Medical University: Digital Medicine: an Innovative approach for SuppoRt and UPgrade of the diagnosis and Therapy based On Research 
Speakers
Vita Rovite: Detection of hereditary cancer variants in early cancer cohort of Latvian National Biobank
Sara Pipponzi: Towards microbiome preservation: Importance, Knowledge gaps & first insights from soil microbiome preservation experiment
Geheime RatsstubeTrack Two: Quality and innovative methods
T2 – Pre-analytic impact on sample quality – means & measures
Chairs: Radka Kaneva & Rocio Aguilar-Quesada 

State of the Art Speaker: Veronica Ghini (Center of Magnetic Resonance (CERM), University of Florence): NMR fingerprinting for sample quality assessment
Speakers
Anna Michalska-Falkowska: Enhancing Reproducibility in Biobanking: A Molecular-Based Model for Quality Control of Serum and Plasma Samples in Multi-Omics Assays
Sven Heiling: Evaluating biobank processes – a proficiency test concept to enhance sample quality
Dorine W. Swinkels: Pre-analytical process for biobanked biomaterials poorly reported: a cause of replicability crisis in clinical biomarker research?
Standard BioTool: Five-minute industry snapshot 
RittersaalTrack Three: Stakeholders in the spotlight
T3 – Training and education for quality improvement and knowledge generation
Chairs: Nuria Montserrat & Jörg Geiger 

State of the Art Speaker: Marie Karlikova: Learning by doing in biobanking – Czech-Bavarian cross-border, interdisciplinary experience                  
Speakers
Valeria Di Cola: The first Swiss educational program on Biobanking for a large audience to unlock biobanking from basic knowledge to specialized professional
Daniel Brucker: Educational program for biobank personnel and interested persons
Heidi Altmann: Starter kit: a practice-oriented guideline for the establishment and operation of professional biobanks
Vasileios L. Zogopoulos: Biobanking education: the project “SCIence outreach: The example of BIObanks in Europe” and its progression so far 
TrabantenstubeTrack Four: Insights into Healthcare: Patient Engagement, Rare Diseases, and Organisational Profiles
T4 – Organisational profiles
Chairs: Maria Judit Molnar & Loes Linsen  

State of the Art Speaker: Jana Pavlic Zupanc: Introducing the EvolveBBMRI project – Accelerating datafication for support of EU health priorities, greening of biobanks and integrated Research Infrastructures’ approach to “One Health” 

Speakers
Soichi Ogishima: Biobank network in Japan to accelerate progress towards genomic medicine. 
Massimiliano Borsani: Strengthening the Italian National node of BBMRI, BBMRI.it
Oksana Sulaieva:  Fostering genetic studies in Ukraine by developing biobanking network_ challenges and future perspectives
15:30
Festsaal
Refreshments, exhibition and posters
16:00
Antekammer
Marmorsaal
Poster session one
17:00Parallel sessions II
ZeremoniensaalTrack Two: Quality and innovative methods 
T6 – The road towards ISO 20387 accreditation
Chairs: José Antonio López-Guerrero & Agnieszka Matera-Witkiewicz 

State of the Art Speaker: Lila Kalio: Finland: Auria Biobank 
Speakers
Vereb Zoltan: Balancing Quality and Costs: Challenges in Implementing ISO 20387 in Biobank Operations
Andrea Martina Terracciano: Implementation of ISO 20387 standards: Transitioning with human tissue authority (UK) requirements
Sabine Bavamian: SBP labels, the Swiss Quality program to support national biobanks towards the implementation of the ISO 20387:2018 
Geheime RatsstubeTrack Three: Stakeholders in the spotlight
T7 – Information security and data privacy
Chairs: Michal Malewicz & Lisa Oster 

State of the Art SpeakerNathalie Poupaert: “Challenges for the Biobanking Community in Light of the New EU Digital Package of regulations, with a Focus on the European Health Data Space (EHDS)” 
Speakers
Oliver Karch: Donor first – how to foster usage of banked clinical samples by leveraging large language models and AI technologies to analyze Informed Consent Forms
Alessandra Langella: The exchange of health data through the cloud. How to overcome the possible risks for patients. 
RittersaalTrack One: One Health & Precision Medicine
T5 – Success stories – Biobanks fostering medical progress
Chairs: Daiva Dabkeviciene & Daniel Brucker 

State of the Art Speaker: Dr. Eero Punkka: Transferring risk mutation data from biobank to healthcare 
Speakers
Zdenka Dudová, Radovan Tomášik, Kurt Majcen: Story behind BBMRI-ERIC Federated Platform
Saba Abdulghani, Łukasz Kozera, Manuela Pausan, Jens Habermann: Biobanks as facilitators of medical research: Success stories
Viktor Molnár and all: Semmelweis Federated Data Warehouse for integrating biobanks and genomic data by privacy-preserving sharing at institutional level
18:30
to
21:00
Festsaal
Welcome reception
Podium discussion: “Opportunities for Industry & Academic collaborations towards personalised medicine in light of global challenges”
Chairs: Jens K. Habermann & Roland Leiminger
Panellists
Kirsten Tief-Kuery (ThermoFisher)
Francesca Trapani (Boehringer-Ingelheim)
Samuel Kroll (Illumina)
Marco Hautalahti (BBMRI Finland)

Scientific programme – Thursday 16 May

Time/location 
08:00
Botschafterstiege
Registration desk opens
08:00Exhibition opens
08:00
Geheime Ratsstube 
ESBB General Assembly
 09:00Parallel sessions III
ZeremoniensaalTrack One: One Health & Precision Medicine
T8 – Public Health Emergencies -Growing importance in the One Health concept
Chairs: Stephani Villar & Karine Sarsyan 

State of the Art Speaker: Markus Ulrich: Taï Chimpanzee Project – A platform for an One Health approach 
Speakers
Dominic Blaesing: One Health Surveillance – a holistic approach to One Health assessment in Sub-Saharan Africa and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Ingrid Walter: Unlocking the Power of Veterinary Samples: A Promising Source for “One-Health” Research
Andreia Lopes: HPV vaccination outcomes: HPV seroprevalence in Lisbon area after 10 years 
Holly Parker for Thermo Fisher Scientific: Five-minute industry snapshot – Embrace sustainability in your Biobank with greener ULT Freezers
Geheime RatsstubeTrack Three: Stakeholders in the spotlight
T10 – ELSI topics in biobanking – friend or foe?
Chairs: Vita Rovite & Valentina Colcelli 

State of the Art SpeakerProf. Signe Mežinska, University of Latvia: Unlocking Potential, Addressing Concerns: Use of AI in Biobank-Based Research through the Lens of Research Ethics Committees                  
Speakers
Monika Valjan: Informed Consent for Minors – Empowering the Future of Paediatric Research
Sara Casati: Hands On Old Collections: The Biobank As A Fair Vector Of Integration In The Scientific Ecosystem
Teodora-Lalova Spinks: Implications and Challenges for Biobanks in the European Health Data Space 
RittersaalTrack Two: Quality and innovative methods
T9 – Modelling and regenerative Medicine – Artificial Cellular Models
ChairsRoman Hrstka & Anna Michalska-Falkowska

State of the Art SpeakerProf. Karine Sargsyan: Biobanks as the Cornerstone of Future Medicine 
State of the Art SpeakerJan Bouchal: 3D organoids and ex vivo cultivation of tumor tissues in oncological research and personalized medicine 
Speakers
Yue Zhao: Decoding Cellular Plasticity and Microenvironment Crosstalk in Gastro-Esophageal Adenocarcinoma through a Living Biobank of Patient-Derived Organoids and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts
Antonella Mirabile: A review of the ELSI challenges of organoids biobanking 
TrabantenstubeTrack Four: Insights into Healthcare: Patient Engagement, Rare Diseases, and Organisational Profiles
T11 – Rare diseases
ChairsNeşe Atabey & Constantinos Deltas 

State of the Art SpeakerProf. Ugur Ozbek: Boosting rare disease research capacity through national and international networking  
Speakers
Joanna Vella: Mitochondrial Complex 1 deficiency; a case study 
Claudia Di Bartolomeo: Swiss Autoimmune Liver Disease (AILD) Biobank  
10:30
Festsaal
Refreshments, exhibition and posters
11:00
Zeremoniensaal
Plenary: Keynote lecture II
Track One: One Health & Precision Medicine
Title: Biobanking with Underrepresented Populations: The Critical Role of Participant Engagement
Keynote speaker:  Dr. Gillian Bartlett, from the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri
Chairs: Marialuisa Lavitrano & Pasquale DiBlasio 
12:30
Festsaal
Lunch, exhibition and corporate workshop (DNAnexus: 12:45-13:45)
14:00Parallel sessions IV
ZeremoniensaalTrack Three: Stakeholders in the spotlight: 
T14 – “Be aware of Biobanking” – Outreach and Communication in and for Biobanks
ChairsAlexander Hertzberg & Ronny Baber 

State of the Art SpeakerVerena Huth: A Decade of Outreach: Communication Strategies tailored to Different Stakeholders – Best Practices of the German Biobank Node 
State of the Art SpeakerEmma Hvitfeldt/Christian Bruzelius: Communication – a tool for awareness and implementation of a new Biobank Act 
Speakers
Janna Nissen: Danish patients are willing to contribute to genetic research – knowledge gained from the Copenhagen Hospital Biobank
Cornelia Stumptner: Bringing biobanking and pathology closer to children and adults 
Geheime RatsstubeTrack One: One Health & Precision Medicine
T12 – Bioinformatics and -omics and Big data
ChairsAndres Metspalu & Erik Steinfelder 

State of the Art Speaker: Bettina Lorenz-Depiereux: Systematic molecular analyses of the NAPKON cohorts – an overview 
Speakers
Joseph Dowsett: Developing Inflammatory Polygenic Scores in Copenhagen Hospital Biobank data as a research tool to uncover links between inflammation, sex, and disease
Niina Pitkänen: Use of genomic data returned to biobank for predicting pharmacodynamic efficacy
Dr. Diana Drettwan: MaMaMeDx: Metabolomic digital twins to improve diagnostics and screening using breast cancer biobank samples as an example 
TrabantenstubeTrack Four: Insights into Healthcare: Patient Engagement, Rare Diseases, and Organisational Profiles
T15– Citizen & Patient Involvement: Emerging best practices?
ChairsEric Vermeulen & Ciara Staunton 

Speakers
Sanita Sinica: Involvement in biobank – rare disease patient experience and perspective in Latvia. Patient perspective
Anna Clareborn: Better collaboration, user research and co-creation with patients
Marija Armus: National Patient Participation within Biobank Sweden
15:30
Festsaal
Refreshments, exhibition and posters
16:00
Antekammer
Marmorsaal
Poster session two
17:00Parallel sessions V
ZeremoniensaalTrack Two: Quality Management and pre-analytics 
T17 – Getting more from less – liquid biopsies, biopsies and fine needle aspirates for molecular techniques
Chairs: Anne-Marie Vangsted & Carmen Swanepoel 

State of the Art Speaker: Bo Franzén: Minimally invasive fine needle aspiration-based molecular diagnostics in support of precision cancer medicine 
Speakers
Nicolai Sode Mikkelsen: Rescue of Low-Yield DNA Samples for Next-Generation Sequencing Using Vacuum Centrifugal Concentration in a Clinical Workflow
Tasha-Leigh Walters: Verification of a Method for Generating Single-Cell Suspensions from FFPE Cervical Tissue for Flow Cytometry Analysis and Cell Sorting
Alessia Leone: Advanced Biobanking for Adult Adipose tissues-derived Stem Cells 
Geheime RatsstubeTrack One: One Health & Precision Medicine
T16 – Epidemiological Biobanking – Cohorts as a show window for populations
Chairs: Kristian Hveem & Eleni Fthenou

State of the Art SpeakerAssoc prof. Therese Haugdahl Nøst: Study protocols, biobank features and sample collection for a longitudinal population cohort study in Norway. The Tromsø study 
State of the Art SpeakerDr Seow Shih Wee: Addressing the Asian Genomic Gap – the National Precision Medicine Programme 
Speakers
Ronny Baber: From population-based towards healthcare integrated biobanking – the journey of the Leipzig Medical Biobank
Ulrika Morris: Swedish biobank cohorts and legal aspects on their potential for use within Precision Medicine 
Thermo Fisher Scientific: 5-minute industry snapshot: Francesco Florindi: Biobanks in the future of predictive genomics
RittersaalTrack Three: Stakeholders in the spotlight
T18 – Partnerships towards real world data – Opportunities, needs and hurdles
Chairs: Kurt Zatloukal & Philipp Mann 

State of the Art Speaker: Marialuisa Lavitrano: European Open Science Cloud 
State of the Art Speaker: Isabel Novoa: Biobanks samples catalogue: challenges and opportunities 
Speakers
Eszter Tuboly: Collaborative Efforts in Developing a Future-proof Biobank Information Management System for Pediatric Oncology: a FAIRy tale from Hungary
Nicolas Ferry: Clinical, Biological, Imaging and Genetic Repository (C-BIG), An Integrated Approach to Biobanking in the Context of Open Science
Łukasz Kozera: Cost recovery model in biobanking – from theory to practice. Success stories of model implementation in three EU funded projects.
18:30Free time
19:30Networking dinner – Wiener Rathauskeller

Scientific programme – Friday 17 May

Time/location 
08:00
Botschafterstiege
Registration desk opens
08:00Exhibition opens
09:00
Rittersaal
Ethics Café
Session chairs:
Dr. Michaela Th. Mayrhofer and Dr. Pieter Moons

This interactive session aims at facilitating an exchange of thoughts and knowledge about pressing ethical issues. The ignition for this year’s topic on ethics committees and biobanks is given by Prof. Josef Haas. We count on your insights and experiences to bring different viewpoints forward and engage in the exchange that this format provides.
10:30
Festsaal
Brunch and exhibition
11:00
Seitengalerie
Track Four: Insights into Healthcare: Patient Engagement, Rare Diseases, and Organisational Profiles
T19 – Pitch your innovative idea
Chairs: Nikolai Pace

Speakers
Peter Verhaert: MSHC: An innovative todown multi-omics spatial technology with single cell resolution to unlock biomolecular information from FFPE samples archived in biobanks
Naila Loudini: Empowering Genetic Counseling in Biobanks: The Rise of Chatbots and the Case of Alva
Sara Casati: Digital informed consent/assent matrix based on Common Condition of Use Elements: Coproducing an APP to track the process, return results, re-contact
Matthias Nauck: Laser-based state of the art cryotube labelling
12:00Parallel sessions VI
ZeremoniensaalTrack One: One Health & Precision Medicine
T20 – Artificial intelligence and precision medicine
Chairs: Georg Göbel & Roland Leiminger 

State of the Art Speaker: Svetlana Gramatiuk: Legal and ethical issues of using AI in Biobank in countries with an average income level 
Speakers
Konrad Kurowski: Fast-track AI-assisted immunohistochemical stain quantification and statistical analysis of TMAs
Mónica Cano Abadía, Melanie Goisauf, Michaela Th. Mayrhofer, Kaya Akyüz: Unlocking the Potential of Big Data and AI in Medicine: Insights from Biobanking
Pasquale De Blasio: AI, Digital Pathology and TMA to explore cancer biology 
Geheime RatsstubeTrack Two: Quality and innovative methods
T21 – Tools to achieve quality – (new) standards for biobanks
ChairsChristine Joye & Mieke Dewilde

State of the Art SpeakerClare Allocca: ISBER Best Practices and interrelated tools 
State of the Art SpeakerMarc Vandelaer & Khalil Roy: Towards Biobank Excellence: A Swiss Biobank Information Management System Relying on Standardized Dataset and Workflow Management 
Speakers
Nele Coenen &  Natascha Perales Selva: Ensuring and Sustaining Data Quality in the Biobank Information Management System
Joerg Geiger: Advancing Reliability and Trustworthiness of Research Results with the Common Provenance Model for Biological Material and Data 
TrabantenstubeTrack Three: Stakeholders in the spotlight
T22 – Green biobanking and sustainability
Chairs: Jörg Hamann & Elne Conradie 

State of the Art Speaker: Mille Løhr: BIOSEK – A cost-effective freezer facilities provided free of charge for researchers within the Copenhagen Hospital Region
Speakers
Michael Neumann: A Generic Concept for Biobank Services Reimbursement
Andreas Nessel: Construction of a sustainable biorepository
Manon T. Huizing: Visualising biobank costs
Marta Martín-Ayuso: Novel Dry Storage Approach for DNA Preservation at Room Temperature
Jörg Hamann: Winning the Freezer Challenge Clinical Biorepository Award 2023 
13:30
Zeremoniensaal
Awards and closing ceremony