UMCG Cohort and Biobank Coordination Hub

The UMCG Department of Primary and Long-Term Care (Eerstelijnsgeneeskunde en Langdurige Zorg UMCG) has secured a €2.7 million grant from ZonMw to establish the Academic General Practice Living Lab Northeast Netherlands (AWH-NO). This initiative builds on the existing AHON network to strengthen education, training, and research in sustainable primary care. With data from over 440,000 patients across 300 practices, the AWH-NO aims to: ▫️ Address regional healthcare challenges with GP organisations (e.g., DokNoord, Dokterszorg Friesland, and others). ▫️ Drive innovation through collaboration between academia and general practice. ▫️ Inspire the next generation to pursue careers in primary care. This new knowledge infrastructure is set to bridge the gap between research and practice, shaping the future of primary care. Read more:https://lnkd.in/ghBhUCFG #HealthcareInnovation #PrimaryCare #Collaboration #FutureOfHealth

Happy holidays! 🎅🎄🌟 On behalf of the Cohort and Biobank Coordination Hub, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for another year of innovation in shaping the future of health. We look forward to continuing our valuable collaborations in 2025. As you can see, it proved to be a challenge to get our entire team in a photo this year. However, we don’t shy away from a challenge (and fortunately, Photoshop came to the rescue), resulting in a beautiful, kitschy picture! 📸😄 Wim Timens, Rogier van der Stijl, Roeland Broekema, Lianne Hovius, Kim Meijer, Sabrina Jacobs, Sophie Meijberg, Joëlle Schutten, Soesma Jankipersadsing, Carian Boorsma, PhD

Thanks to a generous anonymous donation, the University of Groningen (University of Groningen) is investing €30 million to support three pioneering research projects, including the Health Technology Research and Innovation Cluster (HTRIC). HTRIC supports research in different fields, with sepsis being one of them. With this donation, research into the recognition and improvement of sepsis can be further expanded, among other things. UMCG-based biobank Acutelines is heavily engaged in sepsis research to improve early recognition of sepsis and develop novel treatments to improve outcome for patients with sepsis. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eGdCt-tB #Healthresearch #Healthdata #Sepsisresearch #Acutelines #Emergencycareresearch

Recent research by Lifelines_NL shows that overweight is associated with the presence of fast-food restaurants in the immediate vicinity. Approximately 78% of Lifelines participants have at least one fast-food restaurant within 1 km of their home address. The study shows that participants with one or more fast-food restaurants within 1 km of their home address have, on average, a Body Mass Index (BMI) that is 0.10 higher than participants without nearby fast-food outlets, even after adjusting for individual socio-demographic and neighbourhood characteristics. The findings of the study support the desire to address the obesity epidemic and its associated health problems in society at the policy level. Read more (in Dutch): https://lnkd.in/ezaxEb2e #Lifelines #BMI #Datascience #Healthdata #Cohortresearch

Congratulations to #AHON on landing a massive boost for general practitioner care and research in the Northeastern region! The AHON database containing #primarycare data from 440.000 patients will continue to be available for #cohort research and linkage to other UMCG cohorts. Looking forward to what the coming years will bring. Nynke Scherpbier-de Haan Nynke Schouwenaars #databank #datascience

This morning, the UMCG Digital Competence Center (DCC) and our CBCH-colleagues Kim Meijer and Roeland Broekema gave lecture in the Clinical Epidemiology course for PhD students. The DCC started with an explanation of the #FAIR principles, including practical tips for making your data FAIR, and common pitfalls to avoid. Kim (CBCH) followed with a presentation on the "Findability" aspect of FAIR, highlighting how existing data can be leveraged for research. He showcased over 175 UMCG #cohorts (#biobanks and #datasets) of varying sizes and demonstrated tools like the UMCG Research Data Catalogue and international catalogues for finding relevant data. The students worked enthusiastically in a workshop to identify datasets for their projects, exploring how cohort linkages (e.g., UMCG with Lifelines or CBS data) could enhance their research. The session received positive feedback, with students discovering new opportunities for their studies! #FAIRData #DataCatalogue #ClinicalEpidemiology #CBCH

🚀 NEW MILESTONE 🚀 On Friday 29 November 2024, at 9:00, Johanne Spreckels will defend her thesis entitled “Feeding the Infant Gut Microbes”. This is the first PhD based on the birth cohort Lifelines NEXT. We are very proud of Johanne, and of this milestone. You are invited to attend the ceremony in person at the Academy Building or online: https://lnkd.in/eMQRfzTa.   In addition, we will organize a mini symposium for this occasion, which will take place on Thursday 28th November 2024 (the day before Johanne’s PhD defense), from 16:00 to 17:20 in the Boeringzaal, UMCG.   The program of the mini symposium: 16.00 – 17.00: Prof. Dr. John Penders (Maastricht University): “Gut microbiome development during infancy and its association to childhood allergy” 17.00 – 17.20: Johanne Spreckels, MSc (UMCG): “Feeding the infant gut microbes” Supervisors: Alexandra Zhernakova and Jingyuan Fu Co-supervisor: Ranko Gacesa Paranymphs: Marije van der Geest and Renée Moerkens UMCG Genetics | UMCG | UMCG research | UMCG Cohort and Biobank Coordination Hub | #GroningenMicrobiomeHub

👩💻 How do you find the right human #data or biological #samples for your #research? And how do you decide whether the collection you found is worth using? Or even worth reaching out for? 👩🔬 Connecting researchers with samples and data and accelerating #FAIR research, that is what MOLGENIS (UMCG) is all about!  We’ve set up a short 5-minute survey to find out how researchers find the samples and data they need. Are you a researcher in the field of #medical or #biomedical research and do you have trouble finding the right data and sample collections?   💡 Click the link below, complete the survey before December 19th and help us improve our catalogue services for the research community. It would mean a great deal to us! https://lnkd.in/e-MJDVnA #FAIRdata #Lifesciences #biobanking UMCG Cohort and Biobank Coordination Hub LongITools Project ATHLETE Research Project DataSHIELD

On November 20th, International Children's Day, we reflect on the well-being of children worldwide. An internationally unique birth #cohort in this regard is Lifelines NEXT, a study tracking approximately 1,450 mother-baby pairs to identify factors that influence (health) development in children and promote healthy growth, thus contributing to the future of health. One of the fields of interest in Lifelines NEXT is the impact of gut microbiota on children's long-term health. Recent research, 'From Mother to Baby: the Vital Link in Early Viral Colonization of the Gut,' conducted by UMCG scientists Sanzhima Garmaeva and Trishla Sinha, utilizes data from #Lifelines NEXT. It reveals that part of the bacteria and viruses in a baby’s gut originates directly from the mother’s gut microbiome. The stability of the maternal microbiome and virome from the second trimester through postpartum underscores the mother’s critical role in shaping her baby’s gut flora. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eHq23fcE Alexandra Zhernakova, Gerard Koppelman, Sijmen A. ('Menno') Reijneveld, Jelmer Prins, Jackie Dekens, Soesma Jankipersadsing #ChildHealth #Cohorts #LifelinesNEXT #CBCH

Today, CBCH colleagues Wim Timens, Kim Meijer, Sabrina Jacobs and Roeland Broekema attended, with a strong delegation from the UMCG and Datapoort, the HEALTH-RI hub day (#knooppuntendag) at the #Radboud Experience Centre Nijmegen. They participated in various sessions discussing the ambitious plans regarding data infrastructure for 2025. Key topics included: - Onboarding in the national catalogue; - Linking datasets for seamless collaboration; - Data access and authorization strategies; - Connecting to broader European developments. It was an inspiring day filled with valuable insights and opportunities to shape the future of health research infrastructure in the Netherlands and beyond. 🌍 #HealthResearch #DataInfrastructure #CBCH #UMCG