AUTHOR=Reijs Babette L. R. , Teunissen Charlotte E. , Goncharenko Nikolai , Betsou Fay , Blennow Kaj , Baldeiras Inês , Brosseron Frederic , Cavedo Enrica , Fladby Tormod , Froelich Lutz , Gabryelewicz Tomasz , Gurvit Hakan , Kapaki Elisabeth , Koson Peter , Kulic Luka , Lehmann Sylvain , Lewczuk Piotr , Lleó Alberto , Maetzler Walter , de Mendonça Alexandre , Miller Anne-Marie , Molinuevo José L. , Mollenhauer Brit , Parnetti Lucilla , Rot Uros , Schneider Anja , Simonsen Anja Hviid , Tagliavini Fabrizio , Tsolaki Magda , Verbeek Marcel M. , Verhey Frans R. J. , Zboch Marzena , Winblad Bengt , Scheltens Philip , Zetterberg Henrik , Visser Pieter Jelle TITLE=The Central Biobank and Virtual Biobank of BIOMARKAPD: A Resource for Studies on Neurodegenerative Diseases JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology VOLUME=6 YEAR=2015 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2015.00216 DOI=10.3389/fneur.2015.00216 ISSN=1664-2295 ABSTRACT=

Biobanks are important resources for biomarker discovery and assay development. Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease (BIOMARKAPD) is a European multicenter study, funded by the EU Joint Programme-Neurodegenerative Disease Research, which aims to improve the clinical use of body fluid markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The objective was to standardize the assessment of existing assays and to validate novel fluid biomarkers for AD and PD. To support the validation of novel biomarkers and assays, a central and a virtual biobank for body fluids and associated data from subjects with neurodegenerative diseases have been established. In the central biobank, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood samples were collected according to the BIOMARKAPD standardized pre-analytical procedures and stored at Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg. The virtual biobank provides an overview of available CSF, plasma, serum, and DNA samples at each site. Currently, at the central biobank of BIOMARKAPD samples are available from over 400 subjects with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), AD, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), vascular dementia, multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, PD, PD with dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies. The virtual biobank contains information on over 8,600 subjects with varying diagnoses from 21 local biobanks. A website has been launched to enable sample requests from the central biobank and virtual biobank.