- CANCER BIOSPECIMEN ACQUISITION AND BIOREPOSITORY RESOURCE The goal of the AECC Cancer Biospecimen Acquisition and Biorepository shared resource (CBABR) is to provide a centralized unit that meets the best practices of the NCI for the acquisition, storage and distribution of high-quality biospecimens for cancer research. The CBABR oversees the procurement of malignant, benign, diseased and uninvolved (normal) tissues from both solid and hematological cancers for use by AECC investigators. The specimens acquired derive from the highly diverse minority Bronx population served by the Montefiore Health System. The CBABR has consolidated multiple federated cancer-associated institutional biobanks into a cohesive cancer tissue acquisition and storage biobank, and now serves as a unified resource for prospective sample collection. The CBABR is a joint effort of AECC, the Einstein CTSA and other NIH-funded centers at Einstein, and is supported by several Institutional initiatives, including a universal, opt-in consent process in use at Montefiore Medical Center. The CBABR has dedicated staffing for tissue acquisition in cooperation with Surgical Pathology, Clinical Research Informatics support linking samples to medical and research records, and dedicated secure storage space utilizing the most advanced, energy- efficient freezer technology. A web-based application has been developed that allows investigators to determine the availability in the CBABR of tissue with the necessary phenotypic characteristics for their studies. Sample types include fresh and frozen tissues, blood, urine, other biofluids and FFPE slides. The CBABR currently houses 195,000 samples, representing 45% of all biorepository samples. In the last year, AECC investigators accounted for 100% of fresh tissue collection and distribution, and 97% of the total tissues distributed. The CBABR process encompasses patient-informed consent at initial cancer evaluation, centralized management of specimen collection, processing and storage, and multiple levels of security and protection of the resource, including 24/7 monitoring and alarmed, redundant backups. The Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC) evaluates scientific and technical merit of applications for use of biospecimens and, when necessary, prioritizes proposed tissue usage. Mechanisms for requested collaborations from outside investigators for use of banked tissues have been established. AECC participates in the NCI Early Onset Malignancy Initiative, supports specific NCI-sponsored tissue acquisition studies, such as DCP-002 and P9846 (PDX), and serves as the resource for procuring and processing archival tissue required for integral and integrated biomarker studies in NCORP trials. Ongoing institutional initiatives include further dissemination of the universal opt-in consent procedures, and automating linkage of patient medical and health information that is annotated to the biospecimens.
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