Biobank networking: the European network initiative and the italian participation

Biopreserv Biobank. 2011 Jun;9(2):175-9. doi: 10.1089/bio.2011.0004.

Abstract

The evolution of the Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Infrastructure, planned as a federated network of biological resources centers including all types of repositories of biological materials of human origin, toward a legal consortium of European Union Member States is described. The inception of Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Infrastructure gave a strong impetus to the reorganization of the Italian biobanks both with the formation of structured specific networks of disease-oriented biobanks as well as with the establishment of biobank networks with a regional constituency. This complex articulation requires a strong central coordination that the Health Minister entrusted to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità.