Cyprus

The Ministry is working to organise and appoint a National Coordinator of the Cyprus Biobank Node, which will oversee and coordinate biobanking activities at the local Cyprus biobanks.

CY Biobank

Cyprus recently started the first biobank in the country at the University of Cyprus and has received significant funding that will enable it to become a Centre of Excellence (see CY-Biobank project).

Cyprus is an Observer at BBMRI-ERIC and strives to constitute a significant node, contributing to European biobanking and benefiting from participation in the largest family of biobanks in Europe. Research in Cyprus has a relatively short history, but substantial progress in the various fields of human molecular and medical genetics has been made. However, much more needs to be done.

The main goals are to:

• Set the stage and prepare the legal statuses for creating the Cyprus National Node, BBMRI.cy.
• Establish a strong Biobank with optimal operational conditions harmonised with BBMRI-ERIC standards and norms
• Integrate into the medical community and the public sphere, respecting the ethical, legal and social implications, in order to facilitate patient and healthy donor recruitment for present and future research on monogenic and complex disorders
• Enhance the Biobank’s capacities in order to enable research in many more areas and diseases that remain neglected, while taking advantage of unique genetic phenomena present in the Cypriot gene pool
• Reach a level of maturity that will lead to wider visibility and exploitation of biobanked material by local and foreign researchers

CING – Cyprus

The scientific participation of CING is fully supported by the Ministry of Health of Cyprus.  CING established its own Biobank in 2012 both to support its research/ academic activities and to maintain the delivery of a high standard of its specialsed services to patients.

The main goals are to:

• Develop, streamline and harmonise biobanking activities in Cyprus in line with BBMRI-ERIC
• Serve as a strong link with BBMRI-ERIC and strengthen and consolidate CING biobanking activities with other Cypriot national stakeholders
• Facilitate the execution and operation of population programs and promote optimal clinical biobanking activities
• Integrate the biobank activities at CING and other National Collaborating Stakeholders into the BBMRI-ERIC framework
• Provide ethical and legal services to the national biobank stakeholders
• Promote public awareness of the importance of biobanking in biomedical research, towards personalised medicine and better understanding of etiology
• Provide a voice to patients and advocacy associations