Patiënten spelen doorslaggevende rol bij biobanken

Biobanks are important for biomedical research into human diseases. Research physicians are often in need of human tissue and cells to conduct their research. However, they are often faced with the challenge of obtaining samples from a sufficient number of patients. Collaborating with patient organizations – especially for rare diseases – can lead to surprising results. The efforts of patient organizations can be crucial since they are well positioned to bring together patients and their samples, to initiate collaboration and share data for research and to find ways of generating long-term funding for research and biobanks.

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: none declared.