The Estonian Biobank is a population-based biobank of Estonia with more than 200,000 individuals’ genetic and health data, managed by the University of Tartu. As stated on the website of the Institute of Genomics of the University of Tartu: considering the fact that about 20% of Estonia’s adult population has joined the programme, it is indeed a database that is crucial for the development of medical science both domestically and internationally.
Since 2020 NOVE has had the privilege to advise the University of Tartu on the legal matters related to the use of this highly valuable database in research aimed at medical innovation. The legal team advising the University of Tartu includes partner Mari Past, attorney-at-law Maret Kruus, partner Arsi Pavelts and attorney-at-law Veiko Vaske.
„The field of genetics has developed significantly during the last decade. Our institute has been contributing to it and will do so in the future. The next challenge is to bring knowledge to society and to the people,“ comments Mait Metspalu, Director of the Institute of Genomics, on the Institute’s website.
„Our next challenge is to contribute to international innovation and to make new discoveries in the field of medicine. As one of Europe’s most successful population-based biobanks, the Estonian Biobank is a welcome partner in international research projects around the world. By creating opportunities to make a valuable database safely available to trustworthy partners, together we can move forward fastly to develop personalised medicine.“
Source: Mait Metspalu’s foreword to the Yearbook of Institute of Genomics 2021.
