IBBJ is an integrated biobank at Jena University Hospital (JUH) comprising the biobank of the Competence Network “Sepsis” (SepNet), the biobank of the Center for Innovation Competence Septomics (ZIK-Septomics) and the biobank of the Center for Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC). The IBBJ combines all liquid biobanking efforts of the Jena sepsis cluster and provides comprehensive coverage of all ELSI, QM, ICT and education issues at Jena University Hospital. Embedded within the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics, which is accredited according to DIN ISO 17025 and DIN ISO 15189, IBBJ provides a central biobanking resource for a number of networks (PROGRESS I, II), large-scale multicentre sepsis trials (MAXSEP, SISPCT, HYPRESS) and local clinical trials (LabALERTS). In 2010, IBBJ implemented one of the first scalable, fully automated robotic storage and retrieval system for the automatic handling and storage of >500,000 individual tubes at -80°C. Recently this storage capacity was expanded by the implementation of LN2 storage containers with a total capacity of > 360,000 tubes for high quality long term storage at very low temperatures. Challenges and solutions for high quality sample storage within large multicentre trials as well as local clinical trials will be discussed with special emphasis on standardisation of the preanalytical workflow and interoperability of biobanks. In addition set up and implementation of a new liquid handling solution that allows immediate automated freezing of samples in a routine clinical laboratory envinronment will be presented.

Michael Kiehntopf is acting director of the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics at Jena University Hospital. He studied biochemistry and medicine at the Free University of Berlin and completed his specialization in chemical pathology in 2003. He is head and founder of the biobanks of the Jena sepsis cluster comprising the biobank of the competence network sepsis (SepNet), the Biobank of the ZIK-Septomics and the biobank of the of the Center for Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC). He has developed and implemented biobanking workflows for several multicentre clinical trials and has established one of the first scalable, fully automated robotic storage and retrieval system for the automatic handling and storage of >500,000 individual tubes at -80°C. He is founder and elected speaker of the Biobanking Working Group of the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine e.V. (DGKL). He is member of the board of directors and vice chairman of the TMF (http://www.tmf-ev.de), a non-profit umbrella organization for medical research networks established by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 1999 with the mission to harmonize and improve the regulatory and procedural framework of collaborative medical research in Germany, and member of the TMF Biobanking Working Group, where he leads a project on the quality control of biomaterial. He is leader of the TMF project to establish a German National Biobank Registry with Integrated User Portal and is member of several scientific advisory boards in the field of biobanking.