National Cohort (NaKo)

Following a multi-stage evaluation process, KAIROS has established itself as the software supplier for the NaKo (National Cohort) joint research project. The KAIROS software product CentraXX will be used to set up the central biobank and handle NaKo’s biobamples. CentraXX thus complements the central data management system that is being developed at the Greifswald University Hospital and the DKFZ in Heidelberg.

KAIROS was able to convince NaKo’s decision-makers in a commercial, technical and functional test. A total of 17 software providers from all over Europe applied for the budget of the National Cohort. Among them were international players. The National Cohort will collect biosamples from 200,000 volunteers at 18 study centers throughout Germany over the next 10 years. Germany is thus catching up with major international biobank projects. The BMBF’s call for proposals for the National Biobank Initiative has already highlighted the importance of biobanking for research in Germany and underlines the importance of biobanking for the future of medical research.

“We are very happy that we were able to win this project. For us, the opportunities to further standardize biobanking were also very interesting from a German perspective,” said Martin Zünkeler, founder of Kairos. “So far, the major solutions to this problem have come from the USA. It is good that we are now able to contribute a little German engineering spirit together with our partners,” adds Christian Stephan, bioinformatician and technical managing director of KAIROS.