The University of Antwerp and the Antwerp University Hospital are announcing the opening of Biobank Antwerpen in Flanders, Belgium. You are all invited to join us on Wednesday 18th December for an afternoon of lectures that discuss the position of biobanks in the local environment as well as in the broader international perspective. The scientific session is followed by the ceremonial academic opening of the Biobank Antwerpen.
The Biobank Antwerpen builds upon the existing Tumorbank@UZA, which was set up in 2009 in the context of the Belgian National Cancer Plan Initiative as an integrated part of the Multidisciplinary Oncological Center of Antwerp (MOCA). It also integrates with the Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) initiative for biobankinfrastructure which was funded with the support of the Flemish Government.
The recent implementation of the Belgian Royal Decree on biobanks is expected to significantly increase the performance and the quality levels regarding the procurement and use of human substances for scientific research. Biobank Antwerpen is established with the aim of harboring a wide variety of human biological sample collections, both from UAntwerpen and UZA. Its main objective is to contribute to translational, biomedical and clinical research.
Biobank Antwerpen is reaching out to regional hospitals and research institutions and to local biotech and pharma and is taking up an active role in national and international biobanking communities such as BBMRI, ESBB and ISBER.
Together, this will bring important new insights into specific health conditions and enable novel biomarker discoveries and therapeutics for better patient care and quality of life.
Schedule opening Biobank
Part 1: Scientific session: Research club
Chairs:
Prof. dr. Dirk Ysebaert, Head of department hepatobiliary, transplantation and endocrine surgery
Prof. dr. Patrick Cras, Head of neurology UZA and Chairman of the UZA/UAntwerpen Ethics Committee
Co-Chair:
Prof.dr. Elke Smits, CRC Liaison Officer UZA/UAntwerpen and ESBB Ambassador
- 12.30u-13.00u: Key note by Prof. Dr. Mark Divers, Director of KI Biobank, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden: The value of biobanks: insights form Karolinska Institutet
- 13.00u-13.30u: Key note by Dhr. Erik Steinfelder, Director general BBMRI-ERIC: Biobank perspectives and developments at the European level
- 13.30u-13.40u: Prof. dr. Patrick Pauwels, Pathologist and molecular pathologist at the department of pathology UZA: The role of biobanking in translational research
- 13.40u-14.00u: Coffee break
Part 2: Academic session: Official opening Biobank
Chairs:
Prof. dr. Guy Hubens, Head of department abdominal, pediatric and reconstructive surgery UZA and Dean of Medicine and Health Sciences UAntwerpen
Prof. dr. Koen Augustyns, Dean of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences UAntwerpen
- 14.00u-14.15u: Dhr. Johnny Van der Straeten, Managing director UZA: Investment in future health care
- 14.15u-14.30u: Dr. Cathy Berx, Governor of the province of Antwerp: Biobanking: the importance for the Antwerp landscape
- 14.30u-14.40u: Prof. dr. Manon Huizing, Medical coordinator of the Biobank Antwerp: Structure and Organization of the Biobank Antwerp
- 14.40u-14.50u: Official opening
- 14.50u-15.05u: Prof. dr. Philippe Jorens, Head of intensive care department UZA and chairman medical council UZA: The bumping road of biobanking
- 15.05u-15.20u: Prof. dr. Marc Peeters, Head of the department Medical Oncology UZA and Coordinator MOCA UZA: The importance of tumorbanking in future oncology research
- 15.20u-15.35u: Prof. dr.Ronny Blust, Vice-rector Research UAntwerpen: Investment in future science
- 15.35u-17.00u: Reception
- 16.00u-17.30u: Visit Biobank Antwerpen
