Biobank Research Group - offering unique biobanking resources and advanced expertise in translational research, computational pathology and spatial biology.

1. Topic

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-03: Leveraging multimodal data to advance Generative Artificial Intelligence applicability in biomedical research (GenAI4EU)

2. Who are we?

Team Leader:
Dr. Patrycja Gazińska, PhD, DSc, leads the Biobank Research Group at Łukasiewicz – PORT. She is a Principal Investigator with a strong track record in securing research funding and coordinating multidisciplinary projects in translational oncology. With academic and industry experience (e.g. AstraZeneca, Cambridge), she bridges digital pathology, spatial biology, and molecular profiling, focusing on AI-supported diagnostics, biomarker discovery, and tumor microenvironment analysis, especially in breast and head & neck cancers. She leads collaborative research with King’s College London, The Royal Marsden Hospital, and national clinical partners.

Biobank Research Group:
One of the oldest and largest biobanks in Poland, housing >170,000 samples from ~9,000 donors. Initially population-based, it now focuses on cancer-related histopathology and computational pathology.
Key assets:

• Expertise in spatial biology, digital pathology, 3D cancer models.

• ISO-certified operations (ISO 20387:2018, ISO 9001:2015) and BBMRI-ERIC Quality Label.

• National Leading Center in the Polish Biobank Network (BBMRI-ERIC).

• Active collaborations in breast pathology (King’s College London, Royal Marsden).

• A multidisciplinary team including pathologists, biobankers, and incoming AI/data specialists.

Research Infrastructure & Expertise:

• High-resolution brightfield/fluorescent digital scanners for image-based histopathology.

• Image analysis software for cell counting, tissue segmentation, biomarker quantification.

• RNAscope-based molecular pathology platforms; spatial biology tools for tumor microenvironment mapping.

• Secure digital slide management system; fully equipped histopathology lab.

• Quality-controlled tissue processing pipelines based on international SOPs.

3. Competencies and Expertise Contributed to the Project:

A. Computational Pathology & Image Analysis

• Scanning and digitization of histological slides.

• Advanced software for tissue segmentation, biomarker analysis.

• Digital infrastructure for secure storage, sharing, and QC of image data.

B. Spatial Biology & Phenotyping

• Spatial distribution and interaction analysis of tumor and immune cells.

• RNAscope for transcript detection in FFPE samples.

• Expertise in tumor microenvironment profiling and biomarker validation.

• Development of SOPs and QC for high-throughput tissue analysis.

C. Biobanking & Data Management

• Tissue handling per ISO 20387 standards.

• End-to-end quality assurance (pre-analytical to post-analytical stages).

• Traceable metadata management linked to pathology and molecular data.

4. International experience

• P4Health (101136375): Centre of Excellence in Precise Phenotyping & BioDataBanking (2024–2030); WP lead for spatial phenotyping and biobanking.

• EUCAIM (101100633): European Federation of Cancer Images (2023–2026), Associated Partner.
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• International programs in breast cancer (King’s College London & Royal Marsden Hospital).

• National program on head & neck cancer with academic/clinical partners.

• Regional Digital Medicine Centre (ABM project 2023/ABM/02/00005-00).

5. What do we seek?

We are seeking to join a project as a partner.

We are particularly interested in research in the field of translational medicine, development and application of AI tools especially in the fields of head and neck cancer as well as breast cancer. We welcome cooperation with project coordinators, research institutes, and NGOs looking for strong expertise in biomedical AI, digital pathology, or cancer research.

6. Our status

We can engage in the proposal writing and are fully ready to join a consortium as a committed partner.

7. Invitation and contact

We are actively seeking to join a consortium as a reliable and experienced partner, offering unique biobanking resources and advanced expertise in computational pathology and spatial biology.
If your team is looking to strengthen its proposal with a partner who brings cutting-edge infrastructure, translational research capacity, and a collaborative mindset, we would be glad to contribute.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch — we are open to exploring synergies and co-developing a strong, competitive proposal.

patrycja.gazinska@port.lukasiewicz.gov.pl