The European Society of Radiology (ESR) said it will collaborate with Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructures -- European Research Infrastructure Consortium (BBMRI-ERIC) in a project aimed at integrating imaging data with biobank databases.
The collaborating partners will establish a European imaging biobank infrastructure and promote the importance and visibility of imaging biobanks, as well as link them with existing biobanks, ESR and BBMRI-ERIC said.
The ESR and BBMRI-ERIC signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2015 that officially establishes the collaboration, the two organizations said. The plan reflects the importance of integrating imaging and "-omics" data in order to facilitate the development of personalized medicine, clinical trials, and drug evaluation.
The development of medical imaging biobanks in Europe will simplify access to knowledge, improve interoperability, standardize data formats and management, and ensure a harmonized approach to quality assurance for this data, the societies said. In the short term, imaging biobanks will enable the generation of imaging biomarkers for use in research studies, and allow the generation of imaging biomarkers for use in research and to support biological validation of new and existing imaging biomarkers.
