The Integrated Research Biobank (IRB) at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IKCL) is the central biobank resource of the University Medicine Greifswald (UMG) for all biological materials collected within the framework of clinical and experimental studies carried out by internal and external researchers. The IRB is a core unit of the UMG and focuses on collection, processing and storage of mainly liquid biomaterials, e.g. blood, urine, saliva or swaps in established workflows and thereby securing highest quality standards. Aliquots are usually stored at –80°C in one of the two fully automated LiCONiC biorepositories or, if necessary, in one of the –80°C freezers. Up to now, the IRB stores more than 1.1 million liquid aliquots and the collection grows continuously. Currently, the storage capacity of the IRB is limited to 3 million aliquots. Funding statement: European Fond for Regional Development (EFRE) funded by the European Union (grant INZ-EFRE 1503). Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) is part of the Community Medicine Research net (CMR) of the University of Greifswald, Germany, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grants no. 01ZZ9603, 01ZZ0103 and 01ZZ0403), the Ministry of Cultural Affairs as well as the Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 81Z7400173). German Biobank Alliance (GBA) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 01EY1705). National Cohort (NAKO) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant 01ER1301/18).

The research biobank “Anna Maria Ferraro Cutino” AOR-villa Sofia-Cervello, started in 2010 by a grant of the Sicilian Department of Health. Within the biobank are collected, characterized, stored and distributed amniotic fluids (AF) from amniocentesis performed for maternal age. Patients choose to donate to the biobank the first 3 ml of AF that cannot be used for prenatal diagnosis. AF and donor data are anonymously archived in a database, according to the standard ethical principles. Collateral biobanks are present to collect, storage and manage donor sera and DNA samples, to perform microbiological and genetic tests necessary for the unit release. Funding Statement: From 2009 to date this work is supported by: 1. “Franco e Piera Cutino” onlus Foundation, Palermo (Italy); 2. Health Department Sicilian Region; 3. Productive Activities Department Sicilian Region; 4. AOR “Villa Sofia –Cervello” (Palermo).

The UK ME/CFS Biobank was launched in August 2011 following extensive consultation with professionals and patient representatives. The bioresource aims to enhance research on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), related to pathophysiology, biomarkers and therapeutic approaches. The cohort includes 18-60 year olds, encompassing 284 clinically-confirmed ME/CFS cases, 60 neurologist-diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) cases, and 135 healthy individuals. The Biobank contains blood samples, aliquoted into serum, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), red blood cells/granulocyte pellet, whole blood, and RNA (totalling 29,863 aliquots). Extensive dataset (700 clinical and socio-demographic variables/participant) enables comprehensive phenotyping. Potential reuse is conditional to ethical approval.

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Prostate Cancer Research Consortium (PCRC) is a co-ordinated group of researchers and clinicians from universities and hospitals in Ireland whose aim is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer by engaging in biomarker discovery and validation research. The PCRC has established a prostate cancer bioresource that collects biological samples and comprehensive clinical information collected at time of recruitment and subsequent follow from prostate cancer patients undergoing Transurethral resection of the prostate (benign disease) or radical prostatectomy (indolent, significant and aggressive, Gleason Score 4–10). This disease based bioresource with potential for reuse has recruited ~900 patients and collected &gt;10000 tissue, serum, plasma, urine, DNA and RNA samples. </span>

The da Vinci European BioBank (daVEB) is a research infrastructure established in 2009 in the Scientific Campus of the University of Florence (Sesto Fiorentino, Italy) belonging to the non-profit foundation FiorGen, which promotes studies aimed at exploiting knowledge on human health. Since 2011, daVEB is ISO9001 certified for collection, storage and distribution of biological samples and the associated data for scientific research. The biobank is currently storing about 9.000 biospecimens (serum, plasma, white cells, tissue, DNA, cells and urine) collected according to specific informed consents by Research Units from healthy donors and patients affected by different diseases - cardiovascular diseases, melanoma, breast carcinoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, cancer in geriatric patients, Krabbe syndrome, rare skin diseases; the biomaterial is available for new research projects.

The GAZEL Cohort Study set up in 1989 is a general-purpose epidemiologic cohort. At inception in 1989, the cohort included 20,625 volunteers then aged from 35-50 (women; n= 5,614) or 40-50 (men; n= 15,011). The data collected routinely come from different sources, mainly annual self-administered questionnaires, socioeconomic and health administrative data, health examinations, and causes of death. The epidemiologic database is maintained and stored by our group in our own facilities; the biobank is stored in the “Centre de ressources biologiques”, in Dijon, France. Today, more than 50 epidemiological projects on diversified themes have been set up in the GAZEL Cohort Study by some 30 French and foreign teams.