The Specimen Core has been developed to meet the needs of the investigators involved in the Immunologic Monitoring Consortium (IMC) projects and pilot projects with respect to specimen and reagent acquisition, characterization, and distribution. In addition, a primary goal of the specimen core is the development of a large lymphocyte and sera repository that will ultimately serve as a resource for scientists outside the realm of the IMC. The advantages of an organized and comprehensive approach to specimen collection and characterization are two-fold. First, a systematic process for specimen collection and review will ensure quality and consistency in the analysis to be performed in different laboratories. Second, centralized management of specimens will facilitate their distribution based on the priorities defined by the investigators in the projects and administrative core.
The specific aims of the specimen core are to: (1) recruit volunteer blood donors and cancer patients for leukapheresis, collect, process, store, and ship samples, (2) clone and characterize tumor and viral antigen specific T cells from donors and supply to investigators for validation studies, (3) breed transgenic animals, perform vaccination and/or protection experiments, and coordinate shipping of immune spleens and sera to investigators, (4) develop standard operating procedures (SOP) for the consortium, obtain and standardize protein sources and other shared resources and distribute to investigators, and, (5) coordinate sample acquisition and shipping of samples relating to cancer vaccine clinical trials.
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