SNiP for researchers

The Survey of Neonates in Pomerania (SNiP) has a vast number of medical, socio-economics and environmental data as well as biological samples available to all interested researchers.

The detailed cohort profile of the SNiP I (2002 – 2008) study has been published in the paper by Ebner et al. The abstract and links to full text article available via Pubmed. The paper outlines recruitment, representativeness and data collected.

Accessing the data and biomaterials from SNiP

Requests from all researchers to access SNiP data and biosamples are welcomed. All data and biomaterial are managed by the Forschungsverbund der Community Medicine (FVCM) of the Medical Faculty at the Greifswald University.

1. Please contact first Prof. Dr. Matthias Heckmann (matthias.heckmann@uni-greifswald.de) or Dr. Anja Lange (anja.lange@uni-greifswald.de) before requesting the access to data or biomaterial.
2. Please read the access policy (PDF, in German only) before starting the request. It describes the process of accessing the data and samples in details.
3. Data Dictionary of SNiP can be found at the following link. It will help you to check if the SNiP database contains data you want to analyse.
4. You may additionally search the fully searchable research and publication database of the Greifswald University, which lists all research projects and publications based on the SNiP data.
5. Research proposals should be submitted for consideration at least three working days before the session of the FVCM Executive Committee, using an electronic web-based application.
6. Once your research proposal has been approved, you will be contacted by the FVCM staff that will provide you with any additional paperwork and documentation.

Publishing the research results

If you intend to publish a research paper, monograph or any other document based on research approved by the FVCM Executive Committee, you will need to agree to publication conditions, defined in the access policy (especially § 17, § 30). Please email your draft manuscript to the Publication Committee of the FVMC for approval. A copy of final publication should be submitted to the Publication Committee as well.

Grant acknowledgments

All publications must acknowledge the core funding:

“SNiP study was supported by grants from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant no. ZZ 96030, and NBL3 Program, grant no. 01 ZZ 0103), the Excellence Support Program of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Western-Pomerania (grant no. UG 07 034), and the Epidemiological Study on Childhood Cancer and Malformations in the Vicinity of Nuclear Power Plants (Stsch 4493). The Medical Faculty of the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald and the Forschungsverbund – Community Medicine of the Medical Faculty provided additional financial and logistic support to SNiP study.”