The BRB operates a Preclinical Repository that obtains, stores, aliquots and distributes bulk cytokines, monoclonal antibodies, antisera, cytokine standards and other useful research reagents. The purpose of the facility is to provide high quality biological reagents for scientists at non-profit as well as qualified commercial establishments. The majority of the reagents in the repository were donated to the NCI by investigators and corporations in order to make them widely available to the scientific community. A recent scan of the scientific literature identifies more than 87 publications in peer-reviewed journals that acknowledge the contribution of the BRB Preclinical Repository, a testimony to the success of the repository's mission to support the advancement of research and the pre-clinical development of useful therapeutics. There is no charge to not-for-profit investigators in the USA who receive the materials, save for the cost of shipping. Recipients in foreign countries and at commercial establishments are charged a handling and packaging fee by the contractor to cover those costs. The BRB Preclinical Repository Website provides an easy means to view the inventory of available reagents and place orders online. Between April 1996 and August 2008 the repository contractor distributed, on behalf of the NCI, over 43,000 vials of reagents to hundreds of institutions.
