About

Biobanks are increasingly important for conducting state-of-the-art biomedical research. Amsterdam UMC Biobank supports researchers in establishing biobanks that meet current ethical and quality standards.

We provide comprehensive storage for biological materials, alongside services related to sample logistics and data management. Materials range from tissue and cells to serum, plasma, liquor, urine, and feces, as well as molecular fractions such as DNA and RNA.

Our ultra-low temperature storage facilities safeguard more than 500 collections, comprising over 3 million samples in total. These materials are made available in large numbers to support scientific research – each year, we supply close to 400 projects with approximately 75,000 samples.

Performance Amsterdam UMC Biobank 2025

Organization

Amsterdam UMC Biobank is a core research facility within the division of Laboratory Specialisms. We work closely with laboratories providing pre- and post-analytic services, including the Central Research Labs (Laboratory Medicine) and the Core Facility Genomics (Human Genetics). The Amsterdam Research Board and the Amsterdam Cohort Hub advise us on biobank matters.

Amsterdam UMC Biobank actively participates in national bio- and databanking initiatives, such as Health-RI, which aims to stimulate research and innovation through an integrated national health data infrastructure, and BBMRI-ERIC, the European biobank ecosystem. The head of Amsterdam UMC Biobank is the current national node director of BBMRI.nl.

Guidelines and ethics

Our activities comply to the Code of Conduct that regulates the use of patient material for research and to relevant legislation, like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Collecting clinical data, images, and/or patient material for biobanks requires permission by the ethics committees for biobanks at Amsterdam UMC – for procedures and forms, see the intranet webpage of the CTB.

Services

Biobanking:

Cryostorage of biological materials at +4°C, -70°C, and -196°C
Sample tracking using a biobank management information system (BIMS)
Virtual registry of existing collections
Catalog with overview of collected materials plus basic descriptive information

Logistic support:

Advice about starting biobank collections, including pre-analytic procedures
Infrastructure and equipment for collecting and distributing samples
Support of multicenter initiatives between (non)academic hospitals

Legal-ethical support:

Advice about questions pertaining to legal and ethical issues
Safeguard related to legal and ethical requirements

Support on data management/stewardship:

Customized implementation of infrastructures to collect, analyze, manage, store, archive, and share clinical research data and images
Development of catalogs at study or patient level
Advise in writing data management sections or plans

Facility management:

Access to central freezer rooms at location AMC and VUmc
Backup freezers in case of calamities

Prices

As core facility, we need to earn back costs for technical investments (BIMS, freezers and refrigerators) as well as the effort of our technicians. To this, we charge prices for our services. The storage price also includes the registration and intake of samples.

As of 1 January 2023, the following scheme applies:

Storage temperature	Storage (per year)	Issue (once)
+4 till -70°C	€0,05 – €0,075	€0,50
-196°C (liquid N₂)	€0,35	€1,00

Prices refer to standard aliquots of 1-2 ml. Please, contact us for a detailed quotation.

Quality, safety, and environment

Quality management

We have implemented a quality management system for the control and continuous improvement of sustainable high-quality storage of biological materials and related. ISO 9001:2015 certification has been obtained and is renewed annually. We maintain a clear complaints procedure, which we follow in case of any inconsistencies.

Safety

Our services comply to (inter)national standards, such as the PGS15 guideline for the storage of dangerous goods.

Environment

We work with ultra-low temperature freezers that, by using natural hydrocarbon refrigerants with low global warming potential and minimizing energy consumption, reduce environmental impact and save money. Moreover, we operate two large ultra-low temperature Carnot installation using significantly less energy. To reduce energy consumption, we set the temperature of all our ultra-low temperature freezers at -70°C by the end of 2022. For storage at -196°C, cost-efficient large-scale vapor phase tanks with very low liquid nitrogen consumption are used.

Team

Adrie Kromhout	Manager facility
Ehi Wever	Technician
Erik van Iperen	Data specialist
Ingrid Grusewski-Kemner	Operations coordinator
Jörg Hamann	Head facility
Kees Smid	Technician
Martijn Lieverst	Technician
Maureen van der Arend	Technician
Zara-Noor Swartsenburg	Technician