Swiss Cohort & Biobank

The need and value of the Swiss Cohort & Biobank (SCB) as the third and Public Health pillar next to the clinical and personalized health research pillars are broadly accepted. In 2023, the planned SCB was presented and discussed in the Bulletin of the Swiss Academy for Medical Sciences (SAMS), the Schweizerische Ärztezeitung, and in the Research Concept 2025-2028 of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). Importantly, in 2023, the first results of the pilot project for assessing the feasibility of a national cohort with integrated human biomonitoring conducted under the name "Swiss Health Study - Pilot Phase" were published. The project, successfully developed and implemented in collaboration between Public Health research institutions, the FOPH, and the Swiss Biobanking Platform, was well received. The Federal Council charged FOPH with developing a concept for the structure, funding, and governance of a future Swiss Cohort & Biobank. To ensure the flexibility needed for a future cohort in responding to emerging research needs, Nicole Probst-Hensch and an interdisciplinary research team also submitted the large road map proposal “IOP4CH” (Imaging and Omics Platform for Swiss Citizen Health) to SERI. IOP4CH was evaluated by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) at the excellence level A and received support from swissuniversities. It is included and described as a new infrastructure in the Swiss Roadmap for Research Infrastructure 2023 as part of the BFI-Botschaft 2025 – 2028. The project, if funded, would allow the SSPH+ network, in collaboration with Swiss Universities, the FOPH, and a broad panel of additional stakeholders, to start without further delay building the first nucleus for a national population-based digital cohort and an embedded biobank with integrated health assessments and MRI imaging. This first hub would additionally provide relevant data for a well-characterized Swiss genome in a timely manner at a time where the utility of genomic risk score gains increasing attention. 

To promote the timely implementation of IOP4CH as part of SCB, SSPH+ and The Swiss Society for Public Health Switzerland (PHS) elected a steering group (Steering Committee Public Health United for Swiss Cohort & Biobank - PHU4SCB) led by Nicole Probst-Hensch (Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and University of Basel) and with members Murielle Bochud (Unisanté, University of Lausanne),  Luca Crivelli (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, SUPSI), Milo Puhan (Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich), and Corina Wirth (Public Health Schweiz) as the central coordination body for all questions regarding the further strategy and development of a future Swiss Cohort & Biobank recruiting at least 100’000 participants of all ages. PHU4SCB is in regular exchanges with relevant stakeholders.