Auria Biobank and BC Platforms form genomic data management collaboration

By Jeffrey Bouley

BASEL, Switzerland & HELSINKI, Finland—BC Platforms anounced Jan. 25 that it had signed a partnership with Auria Biobank to implement and develop a genomic data management system. BC Platforms’ system reportedly enables biobanks to efficiently integrate their sample management process with real-time clinical information and genomic data.

As the two organizations note,for nearly a hundred years, public healthcare in Finland has collected millions of human tissue samples that can be linked to data from hospital records and National Health Care registers. This combination of samples and data creates what they call “a distinctive asset for the development of personalized medicine.”

Utilization of this unique resource is made possible through Auria Biobank, which is Finland’s first clinical biobank. As a part of the agreement, the ongoing maintenance of the Auria-developed system will transfer to BC Platforms and may also be made available to other biobanks.

“The goal in the future is to integrate genomic data with clinical information to further medical research and innovation. We hope that this provides a research and innovation platform to improve clinical decision making to deliver better patient outcomes and yield more personalized healthcare in the future in Finland. We hope that Finland will continue to be at the forefront of this translational approach,” commented Heli Salminen-Mankonen, director of Auria Biobank.

“Medical research needs large population-based sample collection to improve diagnostics, drug discovery and new treatment methods. Because the data is complicated and there’s lots of it, the data management system needs to be sophisticated enough to handle all of it efficiently. BC Platforms’ data management systems are used at top-tier institutions around the world and we are delighted to be working in a new partnership with Auria Biobank, ” added Timo Kanninen, chief architect at BC Platforms.