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Main axes of research

The Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg (IBBL) is an independent, not-for-profit biobanking and biotechnology foundation designed for a new era of research and the next generation of healthcare.

The IBBL was founded by Luxembourg’s leading public research and academic centres, in partnership with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), USA, to be an international centre of excellence for biobanking, a leader in biospecimens research and a partner in the introduction of personalized medical care in Luxembourg.

IBBL will achieve this by providing high quality biospecimens and data, to catalyze the ideas and resources needed to translate today’s discoveries into personalized medical care innovations for the benefit of the healthcare, education and economy of Luxembourg.

Progress is already underway with the Luxembourg Lung Cancer Project, in collaboration with the Partnership for Personalized Medicine (PPM) and CRP-Santé, to identify new diagnostic tests for improving earlier detection and treatment of lung cancer and help treat the 200 new cases in Luxembourg every year.

The IBBL will contribute to setting new standards in quality sample collection and biospecimen research, alongside cutting-edge technology, including a DNA sequencer necessary for accelerating genetic research. Importantly, the IBBL will provide well-defined biospecimen material, including DNA, RNA and protein biosamples tailored to the needs of individual clinical studies.

Application domains

The IBBL’s capabilities allow it to focus on the following key areas:

Biobanking

Developing a centralised biobank to acquire appropriately consented, standardised and rigorously collected human tissue specimens, including their transport and preservation

Biorefinery

Providing researchers with high quality analyte extractions to identify markers of disease and understand the interaction and relevance of particular genes in the cause and progression of disease

Bioinformatics/technology centre

Offering a core technology centre housed within the IBBL. In partnership with T-Gen, the centre will provide access to tools and staff expertise to mine complex disease data

Current research projects

IBBL partners with other Luxembourg-based and foreign institutions at the forefront of medical research on projects based on the study of systems biology – analysing the system as a whole to identify connections between genes, proteins and an individual’s behaviour. Several Luxembourg-based projects are already in place. In all instances, IBBL is providing high-quality samples and data to establish a new systems approach to understanding disease.

Partnership for Personalized Medicine & Luxembourg Lung Cancer Project

The PPM aims to identify and validate new personalised protein-based diagnostic tools to improve human health and reduce healthcare costs

Personal Genome Sequencing and Systems Genetics

The aim of this project is to develop a new approach called ‘system genetics’.

Personal Blood Proteomics, RNA, and Cell Analysis

The aim is to develop efficient tests for early diagnosis and to monitor the effects of new drugs on individuals entering clinical trials.

To maximise the knowledge gained from those projects and encourage collaborative research ventures in the future, a shared Computational Analysis Group has been created to devise the mathematical and software approaches needed to store, integrate and interpret the wealth of complex data.

Areas of competence

Life Sciences, health and biotechnology

Technology keywords

Cellular and Molecular Biology - Clinical Research, Trials - Cytology, Cancerology, Oncology - Diagnostics, Diagnosis - Diseases - Gene Expression, Proteom Research - Medical Research - Medical Technology/Biomedical Engineering - Pharmaceutical Products/Drugs - Population genetics