Kurt Zatloukal, M.D. is professor of Pathology at the Medical University of Graz, Austria. He coordinated the preparatory phase of the European biobanking and biomolecular research infrastructure (BBMRI-ERIC) within the 7th EU framework programme. In this context it was crucial to establish Europe-wide harmonized processes and quality criteria that facilitate transnational research collaboration and are compliant with the requirements of latest -omics technologies as well as with ethical and legal regulations. Furthermore, he leads in the FP7-funded large integrated project SPIDIA the development of new European standards and norms for pre-analytical processing of tissue samples.

Kurt Zatloukal is and has been involved in developing the scientific as well as ethical and legal framework for medical research and health care. He is Member of the Austrian Arzneimittelbeirat at Austrian
Ministry of Health, was member of the OECD task force on biological resource centres and the Roadmap Working Group of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. Moreover, he contributed to the OECD best practice guidelines for biological resource centres, the regulations for genetic testing
of the Austrian Gene Technology Law, and was member of the Bioethics Commission at the Austrian Federal Chancellery. He has published more than 160 scientific papers and was co-inventor of 15 patent applications.