#EBW26 Previews: 11B: Pediatric biobanking

This session explores the unique challenges of pediatric biobanking, including ethical considerations, consent complexities and age-specific biological factors. Experts will share best practices for safeguarding young donors while ensuring sample quality. Attendees will learn how pediatric biobanks drive research in childhood diseases, developmental biology and personalised medicine to improve future health outcomes.

Speakers included in this session:

• Roland Jahns – Novel strategy in broad consent-based paediatric biobanking: Re-information instead of re-consent when minors attain majority
• Johanna Sandgren – The Swedish Childhood Tumor Biobank – A national omics and tissue research resource for pediatric cancers
• Fuji Nagami – Communication and ethical challenges in pediatric cohort-based biobanking: Lessons from the Birth and Three-Generation Cohort in Japan
• Eszter Tuboly – VIVO Biobank – Supporting translational research in paediatric cancers linked to innovative clinical trials
• Gesine Richter – Broad consent in paediatric biobanking – A review of current practise in 10 European countries

This session will be chaired by:

Prof. Dr. Roland Jahns

Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Roland Jahns, MD, FESC is a full professor of translational medicine at the University of Würzburg and director of the Interdisciplinary Bank of Biological Materials and Data (ibdw). He serves as chair of the Ethics Committee of the University of Würzburg and is a member of the Steering Committee of the German Biobank Network (GBN).

Additionally, he has been a board member of the Association of the German Medical Ethics Committees since 2021 and was appointed the German representative for BBMRI-ERIC ELSI Services in 2014.

Dr. Vita Rovite

Dr. Rovite has been head of the Latvian National Biobank – Genome Database of Latvian population since 2016. She is also involved in BBMRI.lv activities, ensuring communication between the National Node of Latvia with biobanking institutions in Latvia, organising local conferences and seminars and introducing BBMRI-ERIC activities on the national level.

V. Rovite has been the BBMRI.lv National Node Director since 2021. She has been actively participating in working groups for the development of Biobanking Law in Latvia and she is also a participant of BBMRI-ERIC Quality Management working groups. 

In addition to biobanking activities, Vita Rovite is a molecular biologist with experience in functional genomic studies in the fields of neuroendocrine tumours and autoimmune diseases. She is currently the leader of several research projects in these fields.  

Session details:

• Date: Friday 22 May
• Time: 12:00 – 13:30