Together for One Health

A BBMRI-ERIC story for

One Health Day 2025

By Mariangela Masiello, Michael Prattes, Bridget Sheehan and Eleanor Shember, with contributions from the BBMRI community

One Health Day is an international campaign co-coordinated by the One Health Commission, the One Health Initiative Autonomous pro bono Team and the One Health Platform Foundation.

The goal of One Health Day is to bring global attention to the need for One Health interactions and for the world to ‘see them in action’.

It is a global day of declaration and action aimed at raising awareness of the critical need for, and benefits of, using trans-disciplinary approaches to tackle complex challenges involving animals, people and planetary ecosystems.

To spread the word, you can find materials and links here on the campaign website.

The One Health approach

The health challenges we face today are significant and a substantial portion of the global health agenda remains unfinished. This hinders progress toward the universal health targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

With only five years remaining, current progress is only about one third of what is needed to reach the 2030 health-related targets. This underscores the urgent need to accelerate progress at both the European and global levels. Recognising this, the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) have reaffirmed the importance of implementing a One Health approach.

One Health is an integrated framework for action that acknowledges the interdependence of human, animal and environmental health. It seeks to sustainably balance and optimise the well-being of people, animals and ecosystems through collaboration across multiple disciplines.

On 15 October 2024 in Brussels, BBMRI-ERIC launched its 10-Year Roadmap, which adopts the One Health approach, reflected in Strategic Objective 1 – Optimise the interconnection of human, animal and environmental health research.

"BBMRI-ERIC’s 10-Year Roadmap has an overarching imperative: to adopt the "One Health" approach to tackle the complex interconnected challenges affecting human, animal and environmental health. One Health Day is an opportunity to demonstrate the work already underway within the BBMRI community to address this."
Prof. Jens K. Habermann, Director General - BBMRI-ERIC

One Health Day 2025 provides a platform for the voices of scientists and advocates who are moving beyond siloed methods and striving for a holistic, integrated solution to our shared health crises.

About BBMRI-ERIC

BBMRI-ERIC is the European research infrastructure (RI) for biobanking and biomolecular resources, one of the largest RIs in the health and life sciences. Set up in 2013, it includes around 500 biobanks within 26 Nodes from 25 Member/Observer countries plus the global organisation IARC/WHO.

A distributed research infrastructure, BBMRI-ERIC successfully develops multidisciplinary expertise and implements cutting edge services for the biobanking community that includes clinicians, researchers, biobankers, industry, patients and citizens.

BBMRI-ERIC’s vision  is that “by unlocking the potential of biobanking and biomolecular resources, BBMRI-ERIC inspires the best research to benefit patients, the public and the planet.” This is simplified as: “Biobanking for a healthier world”.

We invite you to take a journey around the One Health globe. Together with our community, we have collected stories that focus on different aspects of the One Health paradigm and how they are interconnected.

Read, enjoy and let us work together towards One Health.

Our story begins with a closer look at the animals who share our homes and the growing need to prepare for new health challenges that affect both people and pets alike.

Building partnerships for One Health

Anticipating the drive towards a One Health approach, BBMRI-ERIC Nodes have been building partnerships to support cross-domain research.

Pandemic preparedness with the help of your pet

BEready, or “Bern, get ready”, is a cohort study representing the canton of Bern, Switzerland and is a core activity of the Multidisciplinary Center for Infectious Diseases (MCID) at the University of Bern, part of BBMRI.ch. The MCID was founded in January 2021 on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of identifying the determinants of infectious risks, promoting the interdisciplinary research of future epidemics and pandemics and enhancing preparedness and response strategies.

COVID-19 demonstrated to researchers the importance of having high-quality data ready for use, especially in emergency situations. The availability of existing studies is extremely valuable, as it allows researchers to begin work immediately, using pre-collected data to quickly adapt and generate insights without starting from the ground up.

Through the enrolment of 1,500 households, including adults, children and pets, BEready aims to collect vital longitudinal data to gain knowledge of existing infectious diseases and to better prepare for emerging health threats in both humans and animals.

Both human and animal participants are asked to partake in an initial in-person visit in which they provide blood, have measurements taken and fill out a questionnaire with annual remote check-ins thereafter.

The decision to include household pets was based on the recognition of the close interconnection between human, animal and ecosystem health. Both the risks - such as the transmission of diseases between animals and humans - and the benefits of this relationship are shared across species.

The majority of animals in the study are cats and dogs but researchers welcome any animals that a family categorises as a pet. They currently also have mice, horses and tortoises enrolled and are keen to have other species join.

Listen as Dr. Eva Maria Hodel, BEready Project Manager, discusses the study and the vital role of the One Health approach in effectively monitoring and responding to pandemic threats.

The study is still in the initial stages but researchers have already concluded that participants are willing, and more importantly able, to collect biological samples on their own - something that is particularly important during a pandemic.

BEready is listed in the BBMRI-ERIC Directory, a tool that collects and makes available information about biobanks throughout Europe that are willing to share their data and/or samples, and to collaborate with other research groups.

BBMRI Norway and The Norwegian Veterinary Institute

The Norwegian Veterinary Institute is a governmental biomedical research institute, and the national leading centre of expertise in biosecurity in fish and land animals.

The most important function of the Veterinary Institute is contingency planning and competence development aimed at preventing threats to the health of fish, animals and human beings, in a One Health perspective.

Today the core activities comprise diagnostics, research, innovation, monitoring, risk assessment, consulting and communication. The Veterinary Institute is also a national and an international reference laboratory and is involved in a wide range of international collaborative activities.

The collections at the institute includes isolates of bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi, samples of blood, prepared aliquots of DNA, RNA and various tissues from fish, animals, food and the environment. The Institute is a partner of BBMRI.no - the National Node of Norway.

BBMRI Austria and VetBiobank

The VetBiobank is a central research facility of the Vetmeduni Vienna, professionally collecting, processing and storing biological samples of animal origin following the ISO standards for sample pre-analytics as existing for the human medical field.

The VetBiobank currently contains primarily tumour and control tissue samples (frozen, FFPE, histological sections, and digitized whole slide images) and associated data from companion animals. These constitute an important resource for research, enabling the study of similarities and differences in biology between animals and human health and diseases .

The Biobank is part of VetCore, a core facility with five subunits in the fields of tissue archiving (VetBiobank), imaging from cell to laboratory animal (VetImaging) and the “Omics” subunits Genomics, Transcriptomics and Proteomics. As research data from these samples can be linked to data from medical records of the animal patients, these samples are considered as valuable resources for medical research.

Several research groups at Vetmeduni are active in One Health research, addressing topics such as One Health genetics(including also plant and environmental samples), and anti-microbial resistance (AMR) with a focus on human-animal connections.

Since 2013, the VetBiobank is a partner of BBMRI.at - the National Node of Austria. Their collections are visible in the BBMRI-ERIC Directory and cohort profiles at BBMRI.at/Cohorts (see also the Austria Biobank Cohorts page).

an image showing BBMRI Norway and the Norwegian Veterinary Institute logos

Image showing the bbmri Austria and Vetmeduni logos

Our health is deeply influenced by the environment around us. Next, we will explore two stories that highlight this connection.

First, we will examine how environmental factors influence our gut health, providing insights into potential treatments for serious diseases. Then, we will see how monitoring biodiversity and the environment helps prevent illness and supports sustainable food systems.

Rebalancing Gut Health: New Advances in IBD Treatment

Gut health has been a hot topic in recent years, with increasing attention in mainstream news, the creation of hundreds of podcasts by doctors to athletes and even the conception of #GutTok.

While the growing awareness of gut health is encouraging, scientists and researchers have been studying the gut microbiome for decades, grounded in solid, evidence-based science - not just trends. Today, the connection between our gut and overall health is becoming increasingly clear. One promising area of study is the use of microbiome-based therapies to treat complex conditions like inflammatory bowel diseases.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) result from the complex interplay of genetic predispositions, environmental factors and alterations in the gut microbiome. Their rising incidence - linked to industrialisation, urbanisation and lifestyle changes - underscores the critical role of environmental influences. While the gut microbiome is generally stable, it can be disrupted by diet, infections, medications and other stressors, all factors that contribute to disease onset and progression.

Because microbiomes are widespread across humans, animals and the environment, they represent a unifying element within the One Health framework. Investigating these interconnected microbial communities offers opportunities to address human diseases while simultaneously informing broader health challenges across diverse species and ecosystems.

At Med Uni Graz in Austria, home of BBMRI.at, researchers are studying IBD patients treated with faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), a therapy in which microbiome stool samples from healthy donors are used as bio-therapeutic agents for patients suffering from various diseases.

While FMT is already an established treatment for recurrent Clostridioides difficile infections (a symptomatic infection causing diarrhoea and intestinal inflammation which can even lead to death), it also shows promise for IBD, particularly ulcerative colitis, a type of IBD that causes inflammation and ulcers in the lining of the colon and rectum. From an ecological perspective, FMT seeks to re-establish harmony between the host and microbiome.

In their work with patients suffering from chronic active ulcerative colitis that no longer responds to standard therapies, the team at Med Uni Graz used repeated FMT and found that about one-third of these patients achieved remission - showing clear improvement where other treatments had failed.

Accompanying this study is a comprehensive biorepository consisting of donor and recipient stool samples, gut biopsies as well as other matched biospecimens (e.g. urine, plasma) for omics analyses. These samples and associated data are used to investigate the mechanisms behind healing ulcerative colitis via FMT but also help identify and isolate beneficial microbes that could serve as next-generation microbiome-based therapeutics or “modern probiotics”.

For more information, members of the team have contributed to various research articles and papers.

Group of people posing in front of sculpture

Group photo of Gorkiewicz Lab ©Med Uni Graz

Diagram showing pictographs and pie charts

Patients with therapy-refractory chronic active ulcerative colitis (UC) are treated with repeated FMTs (5 times, biweekly via sigmoidoscopy) after an antibiotic preconditioning phase. Sample types (e.g. stools of donors & recipients, biopsiesm etc.) derived from the study for analysis are shown. At the bottom are the different cohorts (thus far about 100 patients were treated) specifying donor:recipient matching as well as response rates. Between 23-28% of otherwise therapy refractory UC patients undergo remission to disease at day 90 of the study. ©Med Uni Graz

Patients with chronic active ulcerative colitis (UC) are treated with repeated FMTs after an antibiotic preconditioning phase. ©Med Uni Graz

Images of test tubes, intestine and cultivation

Biospecimens are used for integrative omics analyses but also for recultivation of "beneficial microbes" associated with therapy response. These can be further exploited and developed to novel "biotherapies" to treat UC in the future. Provided by K. Filek and produced with Biorender

Biospecimens are used for integrative omics analyses and for recultivation of "beneficial microbes" associated with therapy response.

This section looks at how humans are taking an innovative approach to drive research, policies and standards within the One Health framework.

First, One Health Exploratories are introduced, research sites designed for continuous, longitudinal monitoring of key indicators across the three core One Health domains: human, animal and environmental health.

Then, our story moves forward with a look at organisations driving important policies and standards within the One Health framework. Biobanks and collections of non-human samples will be central hubs at the intersection of all One Health areas. Robust policies and standardised protocols, along with equitable access and sustainable sharing of resources, are essential to maximising their potential.

A network of One Health Exploratories

Climate change, globalisation, biodiversity loss, demographic shifts and pandemics are creating complex challenges across all sectors. To address these threats, the Helmholtz Institute for One Health (HIOH), a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and an active organisation within the wider biobanking community, is developing a network of One Health Exploratories. These are research sites designed for continuous, longitudinal monitoring of key indicators spanning human, animal and environmental health.

Located in biodiversity hotspots with frequent human-animal contact, limited healthcare infrastructure and a high risk of emerging diseases, the Exploratories will provide critical insights into global health dynamics and enable researchers to develop sustainable, evidence-based strategies to improve health and livelihoods.

The HIOH views the Exploratories as a blueprint for global One Health action - encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation, strengthening research infrastructures and training the next generation of One Health professionals. By engaging local communities, they also promote One Health literacy and build vital bridges across continents, sectors and disciplines.

While long-term wildlife monitoring is already firmly established in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire and the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas, Central African Republic, preparations are underway for the next major phase. This will be a comprehensive sampling campaign covering humans, animals and the environment that is scheduled for 2026.

A central focus of the initiative is ethical biobanking and regulatory compliance. In line with equitable research practices and national sovereignty, collected samples will be stored both in partner countries and in Germany. This approach upholds FAIR, CARE, and TRUST principles, ensuring accessibility, transparency and fair benefit-sharing.

Listen as Dr. Stephanie Markert, HIOH Scientific Coordinator and Dr. Fee Zimmermann, Head of HIOH’s One Health Surveillance Research Group, discuss the Exploratories and their role in the One Health Framework.

Browse through HIOH's gallery showcasing images from their Exploratories.

Villagers gathering to listen to a speaker

As one of the pillars of HIOH’s One Health Exploratories, the One Health cohorts are long-term studies that monitor the health of people, animals, and the environment over many years at regular intervals. In Bayanga (Central African Republic) the local population actively contributes to the study design alongside anthropologists. The approach combines regular health check-ups and surveys on people’s socioeconomic situation with systematic monitoring of livestock, wildlife, and environmental and climatic factors. ©HIOH

Wildlife monitoring is a key component of the One Health Exploratories. Because of their close phylogenetic relationship to humans, great apes serve as sentinels for zoonotic diseases — pathogens that can make them ill may also infect humans. HIOH researchers have been studying their health for over 20 years. ©Lando Hass

Animals living in close proximity to human settlements – such as bats – are also included in the surveillance efforts of the One Health Exploratories, as they can be reservoirs and transmitters of dangerous pathogens and potentially play a role in the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. ©Lando Hass

The One Health Exploratories rely on close collaboration with local partners and contribute significantly to capacity building. Field laboratories, such as this one in the Central African Republic, play a key role in training the next generation of One Health researchers and strengthening regional research infrastructures. ©Lando Hass

On the way to village health posts in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas in Central African Republic: An important part of HIOH’s One Health Exploratories in sub-Saharan Africa is the clinical surveillance conducted in close collaboration with local health staff. Building on the molecular diagnostic capacity we have developed together with our local partners, researchers investigate which zoonotic pathogens circulate in rural populations and cause clinical symptoms. ©HIOH

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EvolveBBMRI and Provenance standards

Since its creation, BBMRI-ERIC has made a significant contribution to European and international cutting-edge research, as one of the largest Research Infrastructures for health research and life sciences in Europe.

The EvolveBBMRI project, coordinated by BBMRI-ERIC in partnership with ten Member States, aims to further develop BBMRI-ERIC for the benefit of its scientific communities and users,  to increase its capacity to serve EU policy priorities and further deepen its collaboration with industry.

Within this framework, significant progress is being made toward enhancing datafication and One Health integration in European biobanking. In the following audiogram, Rudolf Wittner, IT Scientist at BBMRI-ERIC and lead for Provenance development in the project, discusses the ongoing work on the ISO 23494 Provenance standards.

These standards aim to enable distributed, reliable, privacy-preserving documentation of data origins and life-cycle, an essential foundation for trustworthy, interoperable research across human, animal and environmental health domains within the One Health approach.

Provenance information tells the story of samples and data. The Provenance standards define how the story is told: where they came from, how they were processed and how the results were produced. You can think of it as a trail of breadcrumbs showing the journey of samples and data from hospitals through research labs to data-driven products, discoveries and end-use scientific or industrial applications.

Responsible sharing of genetic resources for One Health: the Nagoya Protocol

Biobanks and collections of non-human genetic resources are essential for long-term preservation and the responsible distribution of genetic resources (i.e. microorganisms, plants, animals), playing a critical role in supporting compliance with the Nagoya Protocol.

Equitable access and sustainable sharing of these genetic resources is fundamental to the One Health approach, as it ensures transparent transnational collaboration in biodiversity stewardship, a prerequisite for safeguarding the global and interconnected health of humans, animals, plants and ecosystems. 

The Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the FAIR and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilisation (ABS) is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Adopted in Nagoya, Japan, in 2010 and in force since 2014, its objective is to ensure the FAIR and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Under the Nagoya Protocol, countries have the right to decide whether and how they regulate access to their genetic resources and ensure benefit-sharing. It also establishes obligations to monitor compliance.

By helping to ensure benefit-sharing, the Nagoya Protocol enhances the contribution of biodiversity to development and human well-being.

Common misconceptions and the role of the DSMZ

Nevertheless, despite years of Nagoya Protocol implementation, a significant lack of awareness and uncertainty persists among researchers regarding its application. Common misconceptions include the belief that ABS (Access and Benefit-Sharing) is impossible, that researchers from countries non-Party to the NP, like the USA, are exempt or that the country of origin of a microbiological genetic resource is determined by where it is cultivated and analysed.

Since the Nagoya Protocol entered into force in 2014, the collection and use of microorganisms and other biological resources have become more complex and many scientists are uncertain about legal requirements and necessary permits. To support compliance, the Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH has compiled information and guidance to help researchers navigate these requirements.

As a Registered Collection, the DSMZ certifies that the resources it provides are Nagoya compliant and supplies the necessary information for the EU due diligence declaration. Depositors must obtain any required permits – such as prior informed consent (PIC), mutually agreed terms (MAT) or internationally recognised certificates of compliance (IRCC) – from the country of origin before collecting or depositing genetic resources or environmental samples and provide these documents to the DSMZ upon deposit.

The German Nagoya Protocol HuB

The German Nagoya Protocol HuB is implemented by the Leibniz Institute – German Collection for Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) and financed by members of the German Alliance of Science Organisations. It helps academic researchers understand their obligations arising from the Nagoya Protocol and other access and benefit-sharing instruments.

It also brings a scientific voice to international negotiations to inform decision-making processes. The platform offers a variety of resources organised under sections such as Help is here! These resources include infographics, videos, checklists, podcasts and opportunities for personalised advice, institutional support and engagement with ABS networks.

To learn more, watch episode 27 of the BBMRI-ERIC Podcast explores how the Nagoya Protocol helps biobankers and researchers distribute and utilise genetic resources responsibly. 

For practical insights and common misconceptions, see “How to ‘do’ the Nagoya Protocol: common misconceptions and practical advice for access and benefit-sharing compliance” by Davide Faggionato et. al. (Leibniz Institute DSMZ)

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