The UCSF-GIVI CFAR Specimen Bank Core has since 1987 provided expertise and an infrastructure for the collection, processing and storage of biospecimens for CFAR investigators. The Specimen Bank Core, under the director of Dr. John S. Greenspan and Ms. Yvonne De Souza has provided repository services to many cohorts and clinical studies based in San Francisco, including the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WINS), Options Project (Primary HIV infection), Staying Well (Clinical trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction and education groups for HIV), SFGH Observational Cohort Evaluating Long-Term Consequences of Virologic Failure (SCOPE), and a recently funded NIH study, Men of Asia testing for HIV (MATH). The Specimen Bank Core has received over 295,000 deposits and has shipped over 275,000 specimens aliquots worldwide, including whole blood, serum, plasma, leukocytes, fresh frozen and fixed tissue, urine, saliva (stimulated and unstimulated), semen, cerebrospinal fluid, oral and vaginal mucosal swabs, and cervico-vaginal lavage. A goal of the Core is to continue its current repository functions and to further develop as a local and national source for investigators pursing translational research.
Specific Aims of the Specimen Bank Core (SBC) are to: 1. Process, inventory, and store (short and long term) biospecimens collected from CFAR investigators. 2. Provide well-characterized biospecimens to support CFAR investigations and to provide specimens to non-CFAR investigators to enhance collaboration between CFAR and non-CFAR investigators. 3. Provide consultation and training for CFAR investigators seeking information on optimal specimen collection, processing, storage, and shipment. 4. Advise the International Core in specimen banking and storage procedures.
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