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ETSI-med finds its roots in a pioneer initiative started 1999 by an expert network from German, Swiss and French universities, hospitals and research institutions.
Standardized protocols were developed and then shared to collect samples of human biological material and clinical data, ensuring comparability of results.
Ethical and legal standards were adhered to closely, ensuring that the rights of the donors were protected.
From 2000 to 2004 the network and the biobank were supported by a biotech company named Europroteome AG. Europroteome's cancer biobank became
one of the biggest in the world. At that time, access to the sample collections was restricted to the network and Europroteome.
In 2005, Europroteome AG went bankrupt but the biobank could be saved. ETSI-med was created as a non-profit organization with the purpose of
keeping the collections alive and making it available to all researchers striving to improve the prevention, diagnosis or therapy of cancer.
ETSI-med gGmbH moved in October 2009 from Hennigsdorf to Bünde near Bielefeld (Germany) and is now managed by the founders of the original network.
