BIOBANKS AND BIOMOLECULAR RESOURCES RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE CONSORTIUM (BBMRI-ERIC)

Their core work

BBMRI-ERIC is Europe's central research infrastructure for biobanking — it connects biological sample collections and biomolecular data repositories across member states into a unified, accessible network. They set the standards for how human biological samples (tissue, blood, DNA) are collected, stored, shared, and governed under GDPR and ethical frameworks. Their work enables large-scale medical research by making biobank resources findable and interoperable through FAIR principles, and they provide the legal, ethical, and IT backbone that lets researchers across borders access curated biospecimens and associated health data for studies in personalised medicine, rare diseases, genomics, and cancer research.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), BBMRI-ERIC focused on building foundational research infrastructure — establishing biobank networks, defining training programmes (RItrain), integrating with e-infrastructures (EGI-Engage, PhenoMeNal), and tackling broad data management and open science challenges (CORBEL, EOSCpilot). From 2019 onward, their work shifted decisively toward applied health outcomes: personalised medicine, genomics, FAIR data federations connecting cohorts across continents (CINECA, EUCAN-Connect), and disease-specific platforms for rare diseases and cancer. The GDPR and ELSI dimensions also became much more prominent in the later period, reflecting the growing regulatory complexity of cross-border health data sharing.

BBMRI-ERIC is moving from infrastructure builder to health data federator — expect their future work to centre on genomics-driven personalised medicine, cross-border cohort linkage, and AI-ready biobank datasets.

How they like to work

BBMRI-ERIC operates almost exclusively as a partner (32 of 34 projects), joining large consortia rather than leading them — their two coordinator roles (ADOPT BBMRI-ERIC, ERIC Forum) are both self-referential governance projects. With 620 unique consortium partners across 56 countries, they function as a massive hub organisation, connecting to virtually every major biomedical research infrastructure in Europe. This makes them an ideal consortium partner when you need biobank access, ELSI expertise, or cross-border sample governance — they bring the network with them.

With 620 unique partners across 56 countries, BBMRI-ERIC has one of the broadest collaboration networks in European health research infrastructure — spanning EU member states, Africa (B3Africa), Canada (CINECA, EUCAN-Connect), and China (IC2PerMed). Their network is truly global, not just European.

What sets them apart

BBMRI-ERIC is the only pan-European legal entity (ERIC status) dedicated to biobanking — no other organisation holds this mandate or this level of access to biological sample collections across the continent. Their combination of technical infrastructure (IT, standards, quality management), legal-ethical expertise (GDPR, ELSI), and a direct governance relationship with national biobanks in 20+ countries makes them irreplaceable for any project requiring cross-border access to human biological samples. For consortium builders, partnering with BBMRI-ERIC is effectively a shortcut to accessing Europe's entire biobanking ecosystem.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ADOPT BBMRI-ERIC
  Their largest funded project (EUR 3M) and one of only two they coordinated — built the operational gateway connecting researchers to BBMRI-ERIC's distributed biobank network.
• EOSC-Life
  Second-largest funding (EUR 2.4M) — positioned BBMRI-ERIC at the centre of building Europe's open science cloud for all life-science research infrastructures.
• EJP RD
  EUR 1.6M contribution to the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases — demonstrates BBMRI-ERIC's expanding role in disease-specific research beyond general infrastructure.