BBMRI-ERIC’s network brings together a diverse range of biobank types, enabling research and collaboration across human and non-human samples and data. Engage with the interactive map below to see each country’s organisations and the scale of their collections.
Biobank types
Browse the various biobank categories below to access the specific biobanks and their collections from BBMRI-ERIC member states. For all biobanks and collections, visit the BBMRI-ERIC Directory.
Hospital, clinical and healthcare integrated biobanks
Biobanks categorised as hospital, clinical or healthcare integrated biobanks are embedded within hospital or healthcare system. They collect, process, store and manage biological samples and associated health data generated during routine clinical care.
They support medical research by enabling the reuse of high-quality samples and data from patients, while operating under legally secure and ethically tested conditions to guarantee data security and the protection of sample donors.
View the hospital and clinical collections in the Directory
Disease-specific biobanks
Disease-specific biobanks concentrate on specific medical conditions, gathering extensive samples and clinical data from patients with a particular illness. They offer well-characterised biospecimens accompanied by comprehensive clinical data. These focused collections allow for deep molecular analysis of a single disease.
View the disease-specific collections in the Directory
Population-based biobanks
Population-based biobanks collect biological samples and data from a large, general population cohort, without requiring hospital or clinical affiliation. They are designed for long-term monitoring of a defined group of inhabitants in a specific region and enable the linkage of biospecimens with health, lifestyle, clinical and environmental data.
These biobanks are often used to study how genetic and lifestyle factors influence disease risk, to screen biomarkers for disease susceptibility and to support large-scale research on population health over time.
View population-based collections in the Directory
Non-human biobanks
Non-human biobanks and museum collections house biological samples and related data from non-human sources, such as animals, plants and microbes. They support research in areas such as veterinary medicine, agriculture, ecology, wildlife conservation, environmental studies and evolutionary biology and play a key role in the One Health approach. Although the samples are non-human, research using these resources often has direct implications for human health, from understanding disease mechanisms to improving environmental and agricultural outcomes.