Core: Biorepository and Clinical Trial Office Shared Resource

Carroll, Steven

Abstract

BIOREPOSITORY AND CLINICAL TRIALS OFFICE SHARED RESOURCE SUMMARY The establishment and implementation of the South Carolina Cancer Disparities Research Center (SC CADRE) Biorepository/Clinical Trials Office (CTO) Shared Resource is expected to significantly expand the research capacity of the SC CADRE investigators at South Carolina State University (SCSU), thus enhancing their ability to compete for independent, R01-level funding. This new, dual-component Shared Resource will also augment SCSU's ability to attract additional junior faculty researchers who will have access to biospecimens from racially and ethnically diverse patient populations as well as to clinical trials infrastructure at the Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg Mabry Cancer Center (RMC-MCC). The overarching goal of the Biorepository/CTO Shared Resource is to support the development of cancer research at SCSU through both a Biorepository component and a CTO component. The Biorepository component will give SC CADRE investigators access to the RMC-MCC's patient blood and tissue specimens that were previously unavailable for research due to the lack of a biorepository infrastructure. Likewise, the CTO component will facilitate the implementation of clinical trials, providing an infrastructure for SCSU investigators to conduct research in their Orangeburg, SC community as well as providing the Orangeburg community immediate access to other NCI- approved clinical trials which have not been available to date. This Shared Resource will support the implementation of two initial SC CADRE clinical trials in Years 1-3 which will provide the biological and outcomes data needed to evaluate the hypothesized relationships that are being assessed in each of the three initial SC CADRE Full and Pilot Research Projects. Additionally, this Biorepository/CTO Shared Resource will support future SC CADRE Full and Pilot Research Projects as well as other NCI-approved clinical research studies at the RMC-MCC, with the goal of enhancing participation of diverse populations in cancer clinical research.