Currently CBBMR supports a total of 29 projects in which biosamples of human origin are used in studies. Some of the projects have already been completed, publications on these studies can be found in the "Publications" section.
The projects and networks presented here are participations of CBBMR in collaborative projects, in which CBBMR has raised funds directly or which are supported by research funding institutions.
More information can be found at www.ccc-marburg.de
German Biobank Alliance
CBBMR is a member of the German Biobank Alliance since May 2019. Under the umbrella of the German Biobank Node (GBN), biobanks from eleven German university hospitals and two IT development centres joined together in the German Biobank Alliance (GBA) in 2017, followed by four further biobank locations in 2019, including the Marburg biobank CBBMR. The partners establish common quality standards and make their biosamples available for medical research throughout Europe. The alliance partners involved since 2017 are funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
More information is available at www.bbmri.de.
Research Unit 2107 "Neurobiology of Affective Disorders
Since 2014 CBBMR is a member of the DFG-funded Research Unit 2107 "Neurobiology of Affective Disorders" (spokesperson: Prof. Dr. med. Tilo Kircher). In cooperation with the University Hospital Centers for Psychiatry in Marburg and Münster, CBBMR manages the biobank of the Marburg Affective Disorders Study "MACS" embedded in the FOR with about 100,000 samples. With more than 2,500 participants, MACS is currently the largest national study on the spectrum of affective disorders, which include depression, bi-polar disorders and schizophrenia as well as mixed forms of these disorders.
The aim of the research group is to investigate the genetic, immunological and environmental causes and their epigenetic interaction in order to tailor prevention and therapy.
Further information about FOR 2107 can be found under the following link: for2107.de.
FOR "Functional, therapy-aimed clustering of T cell sub-phenotypes across plasticity and individualities of immune-mediated diseases
The research group funded by the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation (spokesperson: Prof. Dr. med. Michael Lohoff) consists of scientists from the Philipps University of Marburg, the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg and the German Rheumatism Research Center DRFZ in Berlin. The consortium has set itself the goal of finding new basic approaches for immune-therapies for chronic inflammatory diseases and infections. The projects are supported by an innovative immunodiagnostic technique, CyTOF, which can comprehensively type immune cells at the single cell level. The data obtained in the first phase in animals will be validated on patient samples in the second step. For this purpose, a project biobank has been established under the direction of CBBMR since 2018, in which biosamples from asthmatics, Crohn's disease patients, arthritic patients and healthy control persons are collected.
Clinical Research Unit 325 "The Clinical Relevance of the Tumor Microenvironment - Interactions in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma PDAC
The Marburg Clinical Research Unit, which has been funded by the DFG since 2018, aims to characterize the role of so-called stromal cells in pancreatic cancer and to use these results to derive new therapeutic approaches to this tumor disease, which has so far been difficult to treat. In particular, the research group focuses on immune cells that promote tumor growth on the one hand, but on the other hand have inhibitory effects on tumor development. In addition to basic experiments on animal material and cell lines, investigations are also carried out on human tumor samples. For this purpose, CBBMR has established a pancreatic tumor bank, in which tissue and blood samples from patients are also stored. Together with the project groups, a comprehensive cell culture and organoid bank is currently being set up for which the human tumor samples are specially prepared.
You can find out more at www.uni-marburg.de/fb20/zti/kfo325.
German Center for Lung Research DZL
The German Center for Lung Research (DZL e. V.) is an association of leading university and non-university institutions dedicated to research into respiratory diseases. The aim of the DZL is to jointly develop new approaches for prevention, diagnosis and therapy of widespread lung diseases.
With the support of the Clinic for Pneumology and the Thoracic Surgery, a lung biobank is being established in Marburg, which focuses on the collection of tissues and punctates from lung cancer patients. In the field of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), CBBMR cooperates with the CosyCo-Net "Competence Network for Asthma and COPD", which is associated with the DZL. Another focus of CBBMR's work in the DZL is the disease area "Allergy and Asthma" - here CBBMR is a location of the Alliance-All Age Asthma Cohort-Studienbiobank. The study cohort, which consists of a children's and an adult registry of asthmatics and healthy control persons, is multicenter. The aim is to identify new early biomarkers and to use these to describe asthma phenotypes that are specifically suited for new therapeutic approaches.
You can learn more about the DZL at www.dzl.de
PASTURE/Efraim birth cohort
In CBBMR, a part of the biobank of the Europe-wide multicentre study Prevention of Asthma in rural environments PASTURE - EFRAIM Mechanisms of early protective exposures on allergy development is stored. The study aims to decipher the determinants of asthma protection in children growing up on traditional farms. In Marburg blood and milk samples were tested for this purpose. In the birth cohort study, biosamples were collected regularly over a period of more than six years, the clinical examinations of the children were taken and the results were obtained in field studies in a rural environment.
More information is available at www.efraim-online.com