) The Southern Division (SD) of the Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) at UAB has participated enthusiastically and effectively in all CHTN cooperative operations since its inception. The policies and guidelines that have been established have resulted in a dependable source of human tissues, with associated histopathologic and demographic data, that has had a major impact on cancer research. It is anticipated that the current advances in cancer research and technology will result in an increased demand on the supply of tissues and more sophisticated demands on diagnosis and processing. To meet these demands the SD proposes to continue its leading roles in: I) the design and modernization of the computerized data management system of the CHTN to support increased networking of tissues; 2) publicizing the availability of human tissues to the research community and promoting communication between the scientists receiving the tissues and the CHTN; 3) the development of regulatory policies including positions on confidentiality and informed consent, guidelines for implementation of new and modified federal regulations, and guidelines to protect against biohazards involved in use of human tissues; and 4) facilitating the development of tissue resources at multiple institutions through outreach and education. At the local level, the SD proposes to continue to focus on providing reliable high quality human research tissues obtained under optimal conditions from surgical procedures and autopsies performed at the UAB associated hospitals and subcontractor institutions. In response to requests from investigators, the SD has already established the procedures and has in place the equipment and expertise to provide tissues frozen within 15 minutes of recovery and preneoplastic lesions, as well as microdissection, tissue matrix arrays, mRNA/DNA samples, and clinical follow-up. In this funding cycle (1996-2000), the SD, which primarily serves researchers in the Southern United States but also serves investigators throughout the US and Canada through networking, has provided over 25,000 fresh, frozen and fixed human tissue specimens to over 450 investigators. In the next funding cycle, consortium agreements with participating institutions that will provide access to tissues from more than 150,000 surgical procedures with a goal of supplying 48,000 samples.
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