Banking the Brain
Banking the Brain is a Flemish initiative to improve how biosamples and clinical data for brain disease research are collected, linked, and shared
It aims to build a federated physical and digital infrastructure that makes brain-related sample collections more harmonised, interoperable, and reusable across institutions.
Why this initiative?
Flanders has strong expertise in neurodegenerative and psychiatric research, but sample and data collection are still often organised separately per study or site. That leads to fragmented collections, duplicate efforts, and missed opportunities to connect data across institutions and disease areas.
Banking the Brain aims to change that by bringing existing strengths together in one coordinated framework.
By improving how samples and data are collected, linked, and shared, the initiative can help:
- accelerate earlier diagnosis
- support more targeted treatments
- strengthen translational brain research
It will also help position Flanders and Belgium more strongly in international brain research, while laying the groundwork for a more connected and sustainable research and healthcare ecosystem.
About Banking the Brain
What is the focus?
The initiative focuses on building the infrastructure needed to support neurodegenerative and psychiatric research across Flanders, with the longer-term goal of helping to accelerate earlier diagnosis, enable stratified therapies, and strengthen translational research.
Its four main goals are:
- Harmonising sample and data protocols across sites
- Building a BioPortal to connect metadata, clinical data, imaging, pathology, omics, and access information
- Streamlining access and collaboration, including legal and operational templates
- Developing a sustainability model for long-term sample and data provision
Together, these building blocks will make it easier to connect high-quality samples and data across institutions, disease areas, and research domains.
Who is involved?
Banking the Brain is coordinated by Prof. Kirstel Sleegers and Prof. Julie van der Zee at the VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology and brings together a network of networks across Flanders.
The consortium includes:
- all five Flemish universities
- certified biobanks
- neurologists, psychiatrists, neuropathologists, neuroscientists, and data scientists
- affiliated hospitals and research sites
It also connects to the Belgian and European biobanking landscape through BBMRI.be and BBMRI-ERIC.
Where we are now
Banking the Brain is currently on the FWO roadmap as a strategic research infrastructure initiative.
The project is being developed further together with partners across Flanders. A first in-person consortium meeting has already brought together the different stakeholders to align priorities, expertise, and next steps.
Partners
