BBMRI.nl Newsletter December 2020

In this BBMRI.nl newsletter:

BBMRI.nl interview series: Arfan Ikram and Dorret Boomsma

Next in the series Prof. Dorret Boomsma, from the department of Biological Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, member of the KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Science).

In memory of Professor emeritus Gert-Jan van Ommen (1947 - 2020)

Gert-Jan was very much committed to creating collective research infrastructures like BBMRI and later Health-RI. He was a founding member in 2007 of the European Biobanking Infrastructure BBMRI (later to become BBMRI-ERIC) and in 2009 of BBMRI-NL which he directed from 2009 until 2014. His network and knowledge opened doors for the biobank community nationally and internationally. He always impressed the BBMRI community with his insights and his comprehension of present and future challenges and had a great ability to bring people together.
Read more here.

CAPACITY, investigating the role of cardiovascular disease in COVID-19

Statistics Netherlands is keen on sharing data for health research

Dutch Biobank Community Festively launched

More than 120 people joined the official and festive on-line launch of the Health-RI Biobank Community. For many participants it also marked the closing of the Europe Biobank Week on November 20. BBMRI.nl, Parelsnoer (clinical biobanks of Dutch UMC’s) and Health-RI now joined forces in the Health-RI Biobank Community.
News article about the launch
Health-RI Biobank Community page

How to make health data available for research? The Experts Meet.

BBMRI.nl and Health-RI organised three virtual expert meetings to discuss different practical approaches to making health data available for scientific use. Three sessions with projects presenting their approach, all with their own strengths and weaknesses.

CAPgemini Report: Health data must be more accessible

It is not a lack of health-related data, the available health-data is not being reused enough. This is the principal finding CAPgemini Invent published in the report commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS). For this report CAPgemini Invent consulted initiatives involved in making healthcare data accessible for artificial intelligence, including BBMRI.nl and Healh-RI. When all available healthcare data is accessible Artificial Intelligence can be put to use optimally, to realize data driven healthcare.

CAPgemini Invent report ‘Nulmeting databeschikbaarheid in gezondheid en zorg’ (Dutch)

Exploiting CRC data to its full potential

The new and updated CRC platform (part of the larger BBMRI platform) contains a comprehensive overview of available biomaterials and omics data within clinical studies for Colorectal Cancer. It connects researchers and clinicians by allowing the sharing of clinical samples to exploit available data to its full potential. The core of the new CRC platform is the Dutch Prospective Colorectal Cancer Cohort (PLCRC), an existing infrastructure which has now been extended with 17 clinical studies and cohorts encompassing >20,000 biological samples of CRC patients.
Read more.

Season's Greetings