BBMRI-ERIC biobanks as pillars of modern paediatric cancer research

Feb 15th was International Childhood Cancer Day 2025

On the International Childhood Cancer Day 2025, we invited you on a virtual journey across Europe to get to know biobanks in our network that build and sustain paediatric cancer collections and make them accessible for manifold research projects.

Now, explore the entire series of biobank portraits in this multimedia story.

Our journey takes you to seven BBMRI-ERIC biobanks that work towards the shared goal to provide better treatments and care for children of all age with cancer. We visit Sweden, Latvia, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, and a global organisation (IARC/WHO) to highlight different aspects of excellent paediatric cancer research.

Biobanks are vital in paediatric oncology by building, sustaining and sharing repositories of biological samples for research. These samples help us better understand cancer biology, develop new treatments, and improve diagnostic methods.

Prof. Udo Kontny, Head of the Section for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation at the University Hospital Aachen, summarises the essential role of biobanks as follows:

“Modern biobanking is a prerequisite for my pediatric oncology research”

So, lace up your virtual hiking boots and follow us to learn how modern biobanking is a fundamental pillar of childhood cancer research.

Contributors:

Our thanks and deepest respect go to the biobanks, researchers and clinicians for this short glimpse into their important daily work. They are part of our large, transnational biobanking community of more than 400 European biobanks, that grows closer every day to jointly evolve and move forward. All these biobanks support critical fields of research through sharing samples, data, ideas, and enthusiasm.

Access the multimedia story

Special thanks to:

• The Swedish Childhood Tumor Biobank (Stockholm, Sweden)
• The Latvian Pediatric Cancer Initiative and the LBMC (Riga, Latvia)
• The Princess Máxima Center for pediatric Oncology (Utrecht, the Netherlands)
• The IARC/WHO (Lyon)
• The Augsburg central Biobank (Germany)
• The RWTH centralized Biomaterial Bank (Uniklinik Aachen, Germany)
• The Sample Collection of Pediatric Diseases SCOPEDIS (Hungary)