CBCH
Cohort and Biobank Coordination Hub
The Cohort and Biobank Coordination Hub (CBCH) is an initiative from the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). In the UMCG up to 200 different cohorts and/or biobanks are active. The CBCH is a network organisation encompassing all these, partly long-term existing, data- and biobanks with necessary large data storage options and workspace, facilitating big data analysis, incl. artificial intelligence. The CBCH focuses on supporting setup, QC, ELSI, and collaboration and valorisation of Cohorts. In addition facilitating large scale analysis of epidemiological/population and clinical data with extensive possibilities of multi-omics measurements in associated biomaterials.
Infrastructure and User Services
Extensive data and biomaterials related to long-term cohorts of specific patient groups and in population-based and biobank studies are available. Well-known Groningen Biobank/cohort studies are LifeLines, Oncolifes, Transplantlines, Vlagtwedde-Vlaardingen, PREVEND, GIANTT and TRAILS.
The CBCH infrastructure provides governance of UMCG cohort facilities and stimulates the unlocking and use of the existing cohorts to internal and external collaborators. CBCH covers the following themes:
- Support for UMCG cohorts in terms of documentation (SOPs), legislation, practical execution, contracts, privacy.
- Harmonising procedures, underlying meta data, data management systems, questionnaires, testing and sample processing procedures,
- Internal and external communication and contacts
- Cohort are findable in the UMCG Research Data Catalogue with increased presence of relevant metadata; accessible also externally with general internet search engines
- Data management and biobank management for cohorts
- Linked to the Sectorplan Medical and Health Sciences (“Versnellen op gezondheid”), Health-RI, BBMRI networks and Cohort Hubs Netherlands (CHN)
Facilities, expertise and experience is available on all methodological aspects of cohort and biobank research (e.g. research design, bioinformatics, bio-imaging, laboratory processes, statistics, on legal and regulatory affairs and on quality and privacy). In addition, the UMCG invested in facilities for biobank research, especially large-scale ICT facilities and long-term storage of biomaterials.
Further info on the CBCH and the extensive facilities available to support the CBCH goals, see Cohort and Biobank Coordination Hub: Active support in cohort and biobank research and Research facilities - UMCG - Research
Examples/description of the type of research
Under the overarching main focus of the UMCG of Healthy Aging, the major disease/biological research areas are in acute and chronic diseases, cancer and transplant medicine with also main attention for epidemiology, prevention and personalized treatment. The CBCH includes besides a great variety in clinical cohorts, also population-based cohorts and works closely with the well-known Groningen LifeLines facility. Combining en connection population and clinical cohort participants enables research aimed at early detection and prevention of disease risks, and therefore at health and healthy aging. Because of the combined availability of extensive data with biomaterials this enables, fundamental, translational as well as clinical research. The UMCG environment allows also research aimed at implementation and innovation, and together with outside (commercial) partners trials and investigator initiated research.
How to access the infrastructure ?
Access is open to information about the cohorts with their metadata via the UMCG Research data catalogue by which PI’s of the individual cohorts can be approached for information and/or a in general a collaborative project basis, fitting within the main research areas of the UMCG. Evaluation of (joint) project proposals will include ethical, legal and scientific evaluation. The project scope should fit within the scope, capacity and capabilities of the requested area of the cohort.