BioBank of the Department of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics (DLMD) at MUG is a unique structure of highly specialised laboratories with a biorepository adapted to translational research in a large scale. BioBank MUG is a strategic nodal biobank of the Consortium of Polish Biobank Network (PBN) BBMRI.PL, which operates under the patronage of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. BBMRI.PL is a member of the European Network of Biobanks: Biobanking and BioMolecular Recourses Research Infrastructure (BBMRI-ERIC.EU) – the largest European scientific biomedical organization (European Research Infrastructure Consortium; ERIC). Laboratories of BioBank MUG make it possible to complete scientific research from the phase of molecular modelling to clinical trials (from bench to bedside) – including but not limited to innovative techniques of intravital imaging of cell and organ functions. Such tests are used to develop new possibilities in diagnostics and therapy with a molecular focus, used for developing personalised medicine. At BioBank MUG research are carried out by multidisciplinary teams of scientists within translational projects concerning diseases of affluence (circulatory system, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease) and rare diseases.
In 2018, the team headed by Prof. Leszek Kalinowski, from the Department of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, MUG, began to work on developing central IT tools within the BBMRI.PL Consortium and the Polish Biobank Network under construction. The integrated platform includes elements related to acquisition and processing of imaging data (Imaging Data Digitalization Platform, IDDP), data about biobanks, collections, samples, probands, and trial results (Central Register of Biobank Probant Data, CRBPD) as well as an integration module with domestic and clinical medical registers (Module of Integration with Domestic Registers, MIDR) and the BBMS system (Biobanking Management System) in order to manage the BioBank. Expert of international reputation involved directly in the work of BioBank MUG is Prof. Lawrence W. Dobrucki from Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, Illinois, USA, who supports the work of the BioBank by sharing his experiences within the development of a supposed imaging and omics trial platform for the development of unique molecular focused techniques in an integrated diagnostic-therapeutic procedure in cardiovascular and cancer diseases.