The biggest biobanking event
of the year
Bringing together the biobanking community at #EBW25
This year's joint event by BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB gathered more than 800 delegates of the international biobanking community in the beautiful city of Bologna. Under the warm Italian sun in May, we celebrated a week filled with scientific discussions, networking opportunities and new collaborations.
In this multimedia story, tour through the highlights of EBW25 as if you were one of the delegates or scroll through to find inspiration to join us next year at #EBW26 in Prague.
You can also find all the details about recent and upcoming EBWs here on our conference website, which also contains live news articles from the congress. And you can uncover an immersive experience by listening to the EBW Congress Radio episodes of our BBMRI-ERIC podcast and viewing a collection of photographs from the congress.
EBW25 in numbers
We at BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB were delighted to see that the attendance at this year's EBW reached over 800 delegates from 47 different countries.
This highlights the strong drive of the biobanking community to come together and jointly work on further developing the potential of biobanking for the benefit of society.
A huge thank you to each and every one of you for making EBW the biggest biobanking event of the year. Now, let's revisit EBW25.
Pre-conference programme: High-quality workshops & Supercomputing for a healthier future
Visiting the ICSC: Italy's National Supercomputing Centre
Being in Bologna set the perfect stage to officially initiate a highly promising collaboration between BBMRI-ERIC and the ICSC Foundation that founded and manages the Italian National Centre for Supercomputing.
As the very first event, interested EBW participants were guided through the modern Supercomputing facilities at the ICSC, which also houses LEONARDO, one of the world's most powerful Supercomputers to date. Get a glimpse of the ICSC here in our EBW25 photo tour.
The fostered collaboration between BBMRI-ERIC and the ICSC Foundation is especially important as they are both founding Nodes of the EOSC Federation, which is revolutionising the use and sharing of health data in Europe. You can read more about this collaboration here in our website article and here in our live article from EBW25 day 1.
Explore modern biobanking with our expert workshops
Workshops: community led expert education
Our pre-conference workshops allow delegates to gain expert insights into various topics of our key services. The workshop programme precedes the official start of the conference to give enough time and room for a thorough exploration of topics like "AI in medicine", "Traceability of samples and data" or "Enhancing strategic visibility of biobank resources".
These hands-on workshops are designed to explore and develop solutions for real-life challenges of the biobanking community. Guided by experts in the field, participants are presented with concrete case studies that they can tackle in group discussions to find best practise solutions.
You can find more information about the workshop programme at EBW25 here and more pictures of the workshops here.
Starting the scientific programme with a stirring wake-up call
“We are changing an epoch, and the world is in turmoil. We need courageous leaders because science is under siege by political forces around the world. We must work all together to resist this attempt to control science — to kill science, actually — and to work together for the advancement of science.”
A stirring keynote by Prof. Walter Ricciardi
Day one of the scientific programme began with the keynote given by Prof. Walter Ricciardi. It was a stirring appeal to the whole scientific community emphasising ‘The need for courageous leadership in science and health in challenging times’.
Prof. Ricciardi highlighted the necessity to not only respond to crises but to proactively shape systems and policies that promote equity, transparency, and innovation. He called for a new generation of leaders — those ready to challenge the status quo, champion evidence-based solutions, and inspire collective action for a healthier, more resilient future for current and future generations. Stay tuned for the full-length keynote by Prof. Ricciardi as one of our BBMRI-ERIC podcast summer specials.
Prof. Walter Ricciardi is Director of the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC), Rome, and Cancer Mission Board Chair (EC).
Day one continued with the first two parallel sessions addressing current topics like "One Health: Non-human biobanking", "Biobanks in big data research and AI" and "Balancing ethics and innovation: ELSI in biobanking". Listen to a selection of voices from day 1 here in our Congress Radio episode.
“It’s cool to bring the biobank close to the people. We really made an effort to create this [MyGenome] portal, and we’re quite satisfied with it, to be honest, although it is the first stage;and it needs to be constantly developed so that we fulfill the task of keeping the connection between the biobank and participants alive.”
Bringing biobanking closer to the people - a keynote by Prof. Mait Metspalu
After Prof. Ricciardi underscored the need for scientific innovation and leadership on day one, Prof. Mait Metspalu, University of Tartu, Estonia, sparked hope by showing how Estonia leads the way in terms of digitalisation and biobank supported health benefits for whole populations.
Prof. Metspalu's keynote shared how the new Estonian MyGenome portal is giving over 100,000 participants personalised insights on disease risks and lifestyle impacts.
Estonia is a powerful example of how biobanks can reach beyond supporting research to directly empower individuals to manage their health based on reliable and personalised information.
Prof. Mait Metspalu is Professor of Evolutionary Genomics at the Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu.
Day two of the conference continued with a packed scientific programme covering topics like "Ensuring data security in biobanks", "Patient-centric biobanking: Strategies for engagement and participation"and "Rare disease biobank insights".
Listen here to the Congress Radio episode of day two or read more details in our news article.
Poster sessions
Poster sessions
Thanks to our diverse and active community, there were many scientific exchanges during our poster sessions that were closely connected to our exhibition area.
These posters displayed the wide variety of scientific activities in our community and the will to share knowledge and develop new ideas together. View more posters in our photo gallery here.
This year's poster and oral presentation awards were gifted by the University of Bologna and Azenta Life Sciences. You can find all winners in our live website article for the closing ceremony.
Exhibitions & Sponsors
Bringing industry and institutions closer together
To foster alliances between industry and institutional research, our sponsors and exhibitors demonstrated their solutions to support biobanking and medical research as part of the exhibition, took part in scientific podium discussion and showcased within sessions.
BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB want to express a big thank you to all our sponsors who helped make this event possible. You can find information about each of our sponsors on our congress website including an overview of the industry programme.
Networking Dinner
Networking in a festive atmosphere
Day two finished with a networking dinner in the historic Palazzo Re Renzo, which dates back to the 13th century.
The dinner is a major congress event as it facilitates meeting new community contacts and cementing firm friendships.
In a vibrant atmosphere, delegates continued to foster bonds and join forces. Catch a glimpse of the networking evening here in our photo gallery.
A refreshing Ethics Café on day three
A refreshing Ethics Café on the final day of EBW25
This year's Ethics Café was chaired by Prof. Dr. Roland Jahns, Interdisciplinary Bank of Biomaterials and Data Würzburg (ibdw), and Dr. Peggy Manders from Radboud Biobank. Gezina Richter, Senior Research Assistant at the Institute of Experimental Medicine – Section Medical Ethics at the University of Kiel opened the discussion on “Consent in Paediatric Biobanking.” Reflecting about what emerged from the session, Dr. Manders said:
“I think it’s a topic that needs much more attention. We need to have much more discussion regarding children, informing children, asking to participate in the biobank. I believe that we are very aware of all the stakeholders we have, but we have too little focus on the children as being also independent individuals.”
Addressing ethical and societal issues helps us realise how close all these aspects are related in the every day practise of biobanking. Prof. Dr. Jahns, shared his experience leading the discussion:
“We wanted to start a little bit focused on children biobanking. But as is usual for the Ethics Café, things turn. Then you discuss about genetics and the problems and feedback of genetic results and how we handle that with children. [...] So I always tried to come back to our main focus — children — but the discussion was so diverse. But finally, I think we agreed in the end to make a sort of collection of how the different people’s concept of children is handled. What about contacting them? What about re-consenting them?”
Read the article about the EBW25 Ethics Café here.
The EBW Ethics Café is an established event of the Europe Biobank Week Congress where the entire community comes together in an informal setting to share their thoughts on the role that ethics frameworks play in the context of biomedical innovation.
Closing & Award Ceremony
Saying goodbye and thank you after a great week together
The final day came to a close with a ceremony led by BBMRI-ERIC and ESBB that showed how much we have to celebrate in the biobanking community. It began with the announcements of the winners of the prizes for poster and oral presentations, as well as the "Pitch your innovative idea" contest, which was sponsored by LVL technologies GmbH&co. KG and awarded to Mariona Arañó, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona for her pitch on "Applications of post-mortem biospecimens in biomedical research on pediatric rare diseases".
Andrea Wutte, BBMRI-ERIC's Head of Quality Management, was delighted to award five new biobanks from community with the BBMRI-ERIC Quality Label:
- BBMRI.de, Hannover Unified Biobank
- BBMRI.de, Integrated Biobank Jena
- BBMRI.de, NCT Tissue Bank Heidelberg
- BBMRI.no, Department of Biobanks – NIPH
- BBMRI.pl, Biobank Łukasiewicz – PORT
This is a strong demonstration of how the BBMRI-ERIC Headquarters team, the National Nodes and individual biobanks work hand in hand to uphold the highest standards in biobanking.
The closing ceremony also included special appreciation for BBMRI-ERIC experts who have made a significant contribution to the community over the last decade.
Last but not least, a big thank you from ESBB and BBMRI-ERIC goes out to all the organisers, delegates, and sponsors that helped us make EBW the biggest biobanking event of the year.
Tune in to the final episode of Congress Radio for highlights from the last day.
Thank you and ...
Built with Shorthand