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The German government initiated the Network University Medicine (NUM) in early 2020 to improve national research activities on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. To this end, 36 German Academic Medical Centers started to collaborate on 13 projects, with the largest being the National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON). The NAPKON’s goal is creating the most comprehensive Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cohort in Germany. Within NAPKON, adult and pediatric patients are observed in three complementary cohort platforms (Cross-Sectoral, High-Resolution and Population-Based) from the initial infection until up to three years of follow-up. Study procedures comprise comprehensive clinical and imaging diagnostics, quality-of-life assessment, patient-reported outcomes and biosampling. The three cohort platforms build on four infrastructure core units (Interaction, Biosampling, Epidemiology, and Integration) and collaborations with NUM projects. Key components of the data capture, regulatory, and data privacy are based on the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research. By December 01, 2021, 34 university and 34 non-university hospitals have enrolled 4,241 patients with local data quality reviews performed on 2,812 (66%). 47% were female, the median age was 53 (IQR: 38-63)) and 3 pediatric cases were included. 30% of patients were hospitalized, 11% admitted to an intensive care unit, and 4% of patients deceased while enrolled. 7,143 visits with biosampling in 3,595 patients were conducted by November 29, 2021. In this overview article, we summarize NAPKON’s design, relevant milestones including first study population characteristics, and outline the potential of NAPKON for German and international research activities.Trial registration:· https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04768998· https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04747366· https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04679584

The German government initiated the Network University Medicine (NUM) in early 2020 to improve national research activities on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. To this end, 36 German Academic Medical Centers started to collaborate on 13 projects, with the largest being the National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON). The NAPKON’s goal is creating the most comprehensive Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cohort in Germany. Within NAPKON, adult and pediatric patients are observed in three complementary cohort platforms (Cross-Sectoral, High-Resolution and Population-Based) from the initial infection until up to three years of follow-up. Study procedures comprise comprehensive clinical and imaging diagnostics, quality-of-life assessment, patient-reported outcomes and biosampling. The three cohort platforms build on four infrastructure core units (Interaction, Biosampling, Epidemiology, and Integration) and collaborations with NUM projects. Key components of the data capture, regulatory, and data privacy are based on the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research. By April 01, 2022, 34 university and 40 non-university hospitals have enrolled 5298 patients with local data quality reviews performed on 4727 (89%). 47% were female, the median age was 52 (IQR 36–62-) and 50 pediatric cases were included. 44% of patients were hospitalized, 15% admitted to an intensive care unit, and 12% of patients deceased while enrolled. 8845 visits with biosampling in 4349 patients were conducted by April 03, 2022. In this overview article, we summarize NAPKON’s design, relevant milestones including first study population characteristics, and outline the potential of NAPKON for German and international research activities.Trial registrationhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04768998.https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04747366.https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04679584

The Hannover Unified Biobank (HUB) was established in 2012 as the central biobank of the Hannover Medical School (MHH) to provide an infrastructure for the standardised collection and storage of liquid biosamples and associated data in the context of research projects and clinical studies. For the comprehensive collection of tissue samples from the clinical routine the HUB cooperates with the MHH Institute of Pathology. All samples are connected with the associated clinical data stored in the ECRDW (Enterprise Clinical Research Data Warehouse) of the MHH. Headed by Prof. Dr. Thomas Illig the HUB developed into one of the biggest state of the art clinical biobanks in Germany and today stores about 2.88 Mio samples (mainly FFPE tissue and blood derived liquid samples) of a wide range of diseases.

Elderly individuals have the highest burden of disease from influenza infection but also the lowest immune response to influenza vaccination. A better understanding of the host response to influenza vaccination in the elderly is therefore urgently needed. We conducted a biphasic prospective, population-based study from Dec. 2014 to May 2015 (pilot study) and Sept. 2015 to May 2016 (main study). Individuals 65–80 y of age were randomly selected from the residents' registration office in Hannover, Germany, for the pilot (n = 34) and main study (n = 200). The pilot study tested recruitment for study arms featuring 2, 4, or 5 visits/blood draws. The 5-visit (day 0, 1/3, 7, 21, 70 with respect to vaccination) study arm was selected for the main study. Both studies featured vaccination with Fluad™ (Novartis, Italy), a detailed medical history, a physical exam, recording of adverse events, completion of a questionnaire on common infections and an end-of-study questionnaire, and blood samples. Response rates in the pilot and main studies were 3.7% and 4.0%, respectively. Willingness to participate did not differ among the study arms (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.44). In both studies, there were no losses to follow-up. Compliance with study visits, blood sampling and completion of the questionnaires was very high (100%, >97%, 100%, respectively), as were participants' acceptance of and satisfaction with both phases of the study. The low response rates indicate the need for optimized recruitment strategies if the study population is to be representative of the general population. Nonetheless, the complex prospective study design proved to be highly feasible.

Biobanken bilden die Grundlage fur einen Grosteil der biomedizinischen Forschung. Mit der Entwicklung, dem Aufbau und dem Betrieb von Biobanken ist eine Vielzahl von Fragen verbunden, die vor allem die Erhebung, Speicherung, Nutzung und Weitergabe von Proben und Daten sowie die gesellschaftliche Einbindung dieser Prozesse betreffen. Diese komplexen Anforderungen konnen in der Regel nur von grosen zentralisierten Biobanken erfolgreich bewaltigt werden. Aus diesem Grund wurden in den letzten Jahren im klinischen Umfeld zentralisierte Biobanken in zahlreichen deutschen Universitaten gegrundet und ausgebaut. Ahnliche Aktivitaten finden auch im europaischen Ausland sowie weltweit statt. Der vorliegende Beitrag beleuchtet die Anforderungen an zentrale Biobanken und deren Hauptaufgabengebiete wie z. B. die hoch qualitative Probenpraanalytik und Probenlagerung, die Schaffung professioneller IT-Strukturen, den Datenschutz, ethische Aspekte sowie das Qualitats- sowie Projektmanagement.

Background Participation in epidemiological studies has strongly declined in recent years. We examined the reasons for (non)participation in population-based health studies among participants and nonparticipants of a prospective study on influenza vaccination among the elderly. Methods Males and females between 65 and 80 years of age (N = 5582) were randomly selected from the residents’ registration office in Hannover, Germany, and were invited to participate in a study featuring vaccination with a seasonal adjuvanted influenza vaccine (Fluad™, Novartis) including five follow-up visits (day 0, 1/3, 7, 21, 70 with respect to vaccination). A 24-item nonresponder questionnaire, including 10 items on reasons for participating in a hypothetical health study, was mailed to 1500 randomly selected nonparticipants. The same 10 items were included in the end-of-study questionnaire administered to the participants in the vaccination study (n = 200). Logistic regression analysis with backward elimination was used to identify the reasons most strongly associated with nonparticipation. Results Five hundred thirty-one (35%) nonparticipants and 200 participants (100%) returned the respective questionnaires. Nonparticipation was associated with a lower interest in obtaining personal health information (OR = 3.32) and a preference for less invasive (OR = 3.01) and less time-demanding (OR = 2.19) studies. Responses to other items, e.g. regarding altruistic motives, monetary compensation, general interest of the study, or study approval through ethics committee and data security authority, did not differ between participants and nonparticipants. Conclusions Participation rates in health studies among elderly individuals could potentially be improved by reducing interventions and time demand, for instance by implementing methods of self-sampling and remote data collection. Trial registration No. 1100359 (ClinicalTrials.gov, date of registration: 09.02.2015). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12874-017-0302-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Biobanks are the basis for a substantial part of biomedical research. The development, establishment and operation of biobanks are connected to a broad range of aspects, mainly concerning the preparation, storage, usage and dissemination of samples and associated data, in addition to the social and public involvement of these processes. These complex requirements can often only be managed in large centralized biobanks. In recent years, centralized clinical biobanks have been established in several university clinics in Germany. Similar activities take place in other European countries and worldwide. This article highlights the requirements and main tasks of centralized clinical biobanks: high-quality pre-analytics and sample storage, the creation of professional IT structures, data protection, ethical issues, in addition to quality and project management.