On 27 April this year, the team of the Independent Research Group of the Regional Center for Digital Medicine (SGB RCMC) at the Institute of Human Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań (Dr hab. Ewa Strauss, Natalia Łopacińska, MSc, Wojciech Włoszek, MSc) participated in a substantive and training visit to the Regional Center for Digital Medicine at the Pomeranian Medical University (RCMC PUM) in Szczecin. The meeting took place at the invitation of Dr. Thierry van de Wetering.
During the visit, representatives of our institute familiarized themselves with the operation of the RCMC PUM Biobank and its sequencing infrastructure, including the high-throughput Illumina NovaSeq X platform and the long-read sequencing system PromethION 2i. The organization of biobanking processes, quality standards, and IT solutions were discussed, with particular emphasis on sample traceability and audit requirements.
A key element of the visit was the comparison of infrastructural solutions and the identification of applications of the BioBank Management System, for which Dr. van de Wetering serves as a consultant and co-developer. The synergy between RCMC centers arises from their comparable infrastructure, particularly with respect to the nanopore sequencing platform PromethION 2i.
The visit was linked to the Nanopore Day conference organized by PUM, dedicated to applications of nanopore sequencing. The SGB RCMC team is implementing this technology for whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analyses and microbiome research.
The meeting enabled the identification of best practices and the definition of directions for further collaboration in the areas of biobanking and genomic sequencing.
