FINBB Member Biobanks

Auria Biobank is the oldest Finnish hospital biobank. It was established in 2012 by University of Turku and the hospital districts of Southwest Finland, Satakunta, and Vaasa. Auria has extensive experience in serving both academic research as well as pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry.

Auria Biobank is an accredited biobank (B001) by FINAS Finnish Accreditation Service, accreditation requirements SFS-EN ISO 20387:2020. Information on the activities within the scope of accreditation is available on the website www.finas.fi.

Over 1.5 million human biological FFPE tissue samples are stored at Auria Biobank. Other sample types available are fresh frozen tissues, blood, plasma, serum, cerebrospinal fluid CSF, and DNA. Genotype data is also available for a proportion of samples.

Clinical data collected as part of patient treatment in the hospital data lake can be linked to the biobank samples. Largely, the data is organized in a structured format. To collect data from unstructured texts, Auria develops and uses text mining algorithms. Auria uses AI models to predict e.g., treatment outcome from digitalized histopathological images. Based on the genotype information and clinical parameters, Auria Biobank is able to recontact defined groups of sample donors for clinical trials.

• Biobank Director: Lila Kallio

• Data/IT: Roosa Kallionpää, Quality: Virve Vainio, Projects: Merja Perälä, Communications: Juha Mäkelä, Scientific Director: Merja Perälä

Biobank of Eastern Finland is a hospital biobank owned by four hospital/healthcare districts and University of Eastern Finland. The Biobank collects e.g., blood, tissue, and CSF samples and associated data from patients who have given a biobank consent. In addition, old diagnostic and research cohort samples have been transferred to the Biobank.

Biobank of Eastern Finland’s samples and related information are utilized in the research of multifactorial diseases, especially vascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, neurological, and oncological diseases and mental health research in accordance with the focus areas of the Kuopio University Hospital and University of Eastern Finland. The Northern Savo hospital district data lake is utilized in compiling and mining the sample-related data. The Biobank of Eastern Finland supports academic research and companies engaged in health-related research.

• Biobank Director: Professor Veli-Matti Kosma

• Data/IT: Timo Laitinen, Quality: Lilja Tikkanen, Projects: Hanna Kujala, Communications: Mika Peippo, Scientific Director: Arto Mannermaa

Biobank Borealis of Northern Finland operates in conjunction with five of Finland’s Northern hospital districts, University of Oulu, and Nordlab. The Biobank contains two million FFPE samples transferred from pathology units and a rapidly growing collection of blood samples (serum, plasma, DNA) as well as cerebrospinal fluid samples. The Biobank also contains The Finnish Maternity Cohort (FMC) with two million serum samples collected from mothers during their early pregnancies. This unique cohort allows follow-up times across generations. FF tissue and liquid biopsy collections from cancer patients are also available.

Biobank Borealis offers researchers services in whole slide imaging, digital pathology, TMA block preparation and sample processing services. The Biobank is also engaged in developing analysis tools in cooperation with several parties. Biobank Borealis serves studies aiming to identify factors contributing to disease mechanisms, prevent diseases, and promote the well-being or health of the population or develop treatments.

• Biobank Director: Raisa Serpi

• Data/IT: Juha Kivelä and Elli Heikura, Quality: Johanna Korvala, Projects: Anne-Mari Moilanen, Scientific Director: Raisa Serpi, Vice Director: Pia Nyberg

The nationwide THL Biobank is a part of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). It is a nationwide cohort biobank that collects and stores valuable research samples from all over Finland. THL Biobank supports research into the causes of diseases, the impact of genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors on diseases, as well as research aiming to develop new solutions for health promotion and disease prevention. THL Biobank hosts population and disease-specific research collections, which contain high-quality samples and data from approximately 250,000 sample donors from all over Finland.

THL Biobank hosts remarkable population and disease-specific research collections, which contain high-quality samples and data. The biobank collections include plasma, serum, urine, and DNA samples. Cell samples, such as PBMC, B-lymphocytes, and skin fibroblasts are also available. The data include extensive life-style, demographic, and clinically measured data about the sample donors and data derived from the samples. Genome-wide data is available for the majority of sample donors, and metabolomics data is available for all recent population-based cohorts.

Samples and data

All samples and data of THL Biobank belong to different research cohorts, varying from population-based health examination surveys (e.g. FINRISK) to disease specific study cohorts, diabetes studies as one specialty.

THL Biobank hosts an impressive collection of omics data analyzed from over 290,000 samples. The vast majority of omics data is genome data returned to THL Biobank from projects that have genetically analyzed the biobank samples, such as FinnGen, but also others. In addition to genomics, THL Biobank has an abundance of other omics data, the largest one being metabolomics data available from over 42,000 samples.

THL Biobank is a good source for biomedical research

The mission of THL Biobank is to serve scientists not only as a source of samples and data but also by providing expertise and excellence in other parts of a research project to ensure a path for scientific discoveries. For example, services of the THL expert network bring valuable medical insight into the projects and the state-of-the-art laboratory services enable tailored projects for the researcher.

• Biobank Director: Tiina Wahlfors

• Data/IT: Kaisa Silander, Quality: Minttu Sauramo, Projects: Katariina Peltonen, Communications: Tiina Wahlfors, Scientific Director: Markus Perola