Digitising Medical Research: Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Biobanking for Accelerated Discovery
Biobanking for Precision Medicine
September 17, 2025 | 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Virtual
We invite you to attend the Biobanking for Precision Medicine seminar series.
The seminar series is brought to you by NCI’s Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research Branch (BBRB) to address current topics in biobanking science, policy, and operations. In the era of precision medicine, high quality biospecimens are central to understanding complex diseases, discovering biomarkers, and unraveling the mechanisms of resistance to therapies. The seminar series is forward-looking, focusing on improving awareness of best practices biospecimen and associated data collection, and expanding research participation through biobanking.
Our focus for 2025 is on biobanking in the digital age, and this talk is the second of the mini-series on this theme.
Meeting Information
| Topic: | Digitising Medical Research: Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Biobanking for Accelerated Discovery |
| Date: | Wednesday, September 17th, 2025, 2:30 – 4 PM ET 2:30-3:30 PM: Presentation and brief Q&A; 3:30-4 PM: Interactive session with speaker |
| Speaker: | Zisis Kozlakidis, PhD Head, Laboratory and Biobanking IARC, WHO Editor in Chief, Journal of Innovations in Digital Health Diagnostics and Biomarkers (IDDB) |
| Location: | Virtual (Webex) Participants must register using the WebEx link prior to the meeting. https://cbiit.webex.com/weblink/register/r9eca86620bdd4e16c1f14910c757478f |
Abstract
The rapid digitisation of medical research is transforming how health data is generated, stored, analysed, and translated into clinical practice. The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and modern biobanking offers unprecedented opportunities to accelerate discovery and improve healthcare outcomes. Biobanks, traditionally valued for physical biospecimen collections, are increasingly enhanced by comprehensive digital infrastructures that integrate clinical, genomic, imaging, and lifestyle data. When these rich, multidimensional datasets are harmonised and linked to high-quality metadata, they form the foundation for advanced AI-driven analytics capable of revealing complex patterns, predictive biomarkers, and novel therapeutic targets. AI algorithms, including machine learning and deep learning techniques, are anticipated to be applied to biobank datasets to model disease progression, stratify patient populations, and optimise personalised medicine approaches. The digitisation of these resources may enable faster and more accurate research and support collaborative, cross-border initiatives through secure, interoperable data-sharing frameworks. However, ethical, legal, and social considerations remain paramount, requiring robust governance models to ensure privacy, equity, and trust in AI-enabled research.
This presentation will provide an overview of the experiences of the IARC/WHO biobank, current and planned practices and projects. The integration of AI with digitised biobanking represents a paradigm shift in biomedical science, moving from static sample repositories to dynamic, data-rich ecosystems. As the digital transformation accelerates, the future of medical research will be defined by its ability to leverage these interconnected resources, delivering faster and more precise interpretation of data and responses to complex scientific questions.
Biography
Dr. Zisis Kozlakidis is the Head of Laboratory Services and Biobanking at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization (IARC/WHO). He is responsible for one of the largest and most varied international collections of clinical samples in the world, focusing on gene–environment interactions and disease-based collections. He serves as board member of the pan-EU biomolecular infrastructure BBMRI-ERIC; as scientific advisor to the national Health-Research Infrastructure in the Netherlands and the PTEN Research Foundation; as vice president of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Life Sciences Economic Alliance (China); and as EOSC co-chair on digitally ‘Upskilling countries’.
Dr. Kozlakidis has significant expertise in the field of biobanking and has served as President of ISBER, and as board member. Dr. Kozlakidis is a virologist, with a PhD in microbiology from Imperial College London. He is an elected Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the Royal Academy of Sciences, UK, and a Turnberg Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences.
Dr Kozlakidis has contributed to seminal studies in the adoption of innovations into routine healthcare in the UK, and their associated financial impacts. He holds visiting faculty positions in China (Medical School, South Central University), Belgium (Public Health School, Université Libre de Bruxelles) and the UK (St. George’s Medical School, University of London and Business School, City University of London).
Please note that, with our speakers’ authorization, NCI records presentations for the NIH and the general public. Please contact Veena Gopalakrishnan for questions about this event.
Individuals who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Veena Gopalakrishnan, 240-276-5123, at least 5 business days in advance of the seminar date to discuss accommodation needs.