Large and representative donor pool

Our blood donors, who are representative of the general Bavarian population *, form the basis of the “Blood Donor BIOBANK”. The large pool of more than 400,000 active blood donors enables the identification of several thousands of diseased biobank participants per year. Because most donors are strongly committed to the BRK Blood Donor Service, additional medical or socio-demographic data may also be collected.

The innovation:
serial, pre-diagnostic plasma samples from blood donors with diseases

For the first time, numerous blood samples may be examined from one person, which were taken and stored before the diagnosis of a disease. This research approach is especially suitable for investigating markers associated with the onset and progression of disease. Such biomarkers are gaining more and more importance in early diagnosis and specific treatment of diseases.

Up to now, samples from patients have been compared to a healthy reference group when examining biomarkers. The “Blood Donor BIOBANK” facilitates a completely new research approach:
The search for changes in the blood which are detectable before the manifestation of symptoms.
On average there are 2 serial plasma samples per year available from every BIOBANK participant. The frequently short time span between sampling facilitates kinetic analyses.

Reference: * BSD Health Study 2009