The German Biobank Network (GBN) unites academic biobanks in Germany that collect human biospecimens and make them available for research, and offers them a joint platform for collaboration and further development. The GBN represents German interests in the European biobank network BBMRI-ERIC and supports biomedical research on the path to precision medicine.
Today's network emerged from two closely linked structures: the German Biobank Node (GBN) as the coordinating umbrella organisation and national "node" of BBMRI-ERIC and the German Biobank Alliance (GBA), which comprised the cooperating biobanks. Under the leadership of the then GBN, biobanks from eleven German university hospitals and two IT development centres joined forces in the GBA in 2017. Since 2025, biobanks at 37 locations and one IT development centre have been active in the network. The biobank partners work according to uniform quality standards and make biosamples and the associated data available for biomedical research across Europe via a networked IT infrastructure.
On 1 July 2025, both structures - GBN and GBA - were merged under the new name German Biobank Network (GBN). At the same time, the GBN was organisationally anchored in the Network University Medicine (NUM). The new name reflects the established structure and its role as the central infrastructure for biobanking in university medicine.
Since 1 July 2025, the NUM has been in its third funding period with a five-year term, funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). In order to secure the structures created in the NUM in the long term, the BMFTR has promised to continue the network beyond the current funding period.