-
- Posted Wednesday March 25, 2009
International tissue-repository association president selected to lead emergent Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg
Officials of the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg (IBBL) today
announced the selection of Dr. Robert Hewitt, president of an
international association governing biological samples, as Chief
Executive Officer.
As head of the IBBL, Hewitt will be in charge of a state-of-the-art
tissue storage and distribution initiative that will help a
worldwide network of cancer scientists and other disease
researchers find answers to humanity's most pressing health
problems.
Dr. Jean-Claude Schmit, chairman of the seven-member governing
board of the IBBL, said Hewitt was selected as CEO because of his
impeccable credentials, his worldwide connections and his
experience in setting up biobanks in other nations.
"Dr. Hewitt is internationally recognized as a leading scientist in
biobanking," Schmit said, following the IBBL's recent board meeting
at the Phoenix, Arizona, USA headquarters of the Translational
Genomics Research Institute (TGen). TGen is partnering with
Luxembourg to help develop the IBBL, and TGen is part of the first
demonstration project, Luxembourg Project Lung Cancer, in
collaboration with the Partnership for Personalized Medicine.
Dr. Jeffrey Trent, TGen's President and Scientific Director, said
Hewitt was the obvious choice for the new position. "Dr. Hewitt
brings energy and creativity to the IBBL. His reputation within the
biobanking community is a strength that will help ensure the IBBL's
success through his leadership and his ability to foster
collaborations on an international scale."
The IBBL is key to a multi-part strategy to make Luxembourg the
center of excellence in health sciences and technologies of
Europe.
"This is a project that puts us on the global map," said Schmit,
who also is General Manager of Luxembourg's Public Research Centre
for Health (Centre de Recherche Public Sante). "The IBBL will allow
us to have state-of-the-art samples for research. It is opening our
country to international research. For TGen, it's an opportunity to
enter the European research market."
Patrizia Luchetta, the IBBL Project Manager and IBBL Board
Vice-Chairman, also praised Hewitt's dedication and
experience.
"Dr. Hewitt stands out for his appreciation of the role of biobanks
in biomedical research, and his deep understanding of what it takes
to set up a state-of-the-art biobanking facility," said Luchetta,
who also serves as Deputy Director of Luxembourg's Board of
Economic Development in the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign
Trade.
Dr. Hewitt is president of the International Society for Biological
and Environmental Repositories. The ISBER aims to promote best
practices in the management of biobanks, which store such items as
therapeutic tissues, microbial culture collections, biodiversity
samples and even museum collections.
"The IBBL is really vital to the development of personalized
medicine," said Hewitt, referring to the process of quickly
bringing new laboratory discoveries to the diagnosis and treatment
of patients.
As part of an international partnership to spur discovery and
innovation, Luxembourg last year enlisted the Phoenix-based
Partnership for Personalized Medicine, which includes: TGen;
Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute; and Seattle,
Washington's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. A strategic
partnership between Seattle's Institute of Systems Biology and the
University of Luxembourg constitutes the third pillar of
Luxembourg's overall initiative in life sciences.
Hewitt has developed biobanks in England, Saudi Arabia and
Singapore, where he is director of the Tissue Repository &
Hospital-based Cancer Registry at the National University Hospital
and National University of Singapore. The Tissue Repository
provides researchers with samples of blood and tumor tissues
collected only with patient consent.
"What I set up in Singapore is like a small scale model of what
will be set up for Luxembourg," said Hewitt, who was educated in
England and served a fellowship in the Laboratory of Pathology at
the U.S. National Institutes of Health. "The wonderful thing with
the Luxembourg plan is that everything is funded."
Hewitt starts his new position on July 1. He eventually will
supervise a staff of nearly 70 at the IBBL, which will include a
biorepository, biorefinery, offices of administration and
compliance, a technology center and an information-management
center for maintaining and developing databases.
"One thing I've learned is the importance of winning the
enthusiastic support of the many different groups of people who are
vital to the biobanking process. These include patients and their
communities as well as doctors, nurses, scientists and
administrators. Only when all these groups are working together,
can we be fully effective in building high quality biobanks to
support advances in medical research," Hewitt said.
*
About the Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg (IBBL)
The Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg - co-founded by the nation's
three Public Research Centers Santé, Tudor and Lippmann, and by the
University of Luxembourg - holds the promise of becoming the
premier European hub for advanced biobanking, biotechnology and
biomedical informatics. While most European and U.S. biobanks focus
on collection and distribution of specimens, the IBBL will
implement uniform standards for collection, storage and
distribution of a full range of tissue samples, including blood,
serum and tumor tissues. This next-generation biobank will provide
molecular-based characterizations of biospecimens linked to
clinical studies. The project will leverage expertise in biology,
pathology, informatics and information technology infrastructure,
laboratory operations, transportation, legal matters and ethics.
The IBBL will serve as a centralized resource for sharing and
comparing research results through a robust, scalable and secure
bioinformatics system that supports the collection, processing,
storage, annotation and distribution of biospecimens and
data.
Contact:
Mrs. Marie-Paule Hoffmann
Tel. +352 274464-30
E-mail: [email protected]
