The functions of the Serum Bank remain the same since its inception in 1972, namely: to collect, store, and maintain a bank of frozen sera from patients with various malignant diseases, from corresponding benign disease patients, and from age and sex matched healthy individuals; to distribute specimens to individual investigators for the rapid verification and/or evaluation of new """"""""biologic marker"""""""" tests; to store and maintain sera collected for NCI by other contractors in the past; and to maintain a computerized data management system for bank inventory and clinical data and retrieval of such specimens as re required for distribution. 41,499 patients have donated blood in the past twelve years (1972-1983). 246,908 (1 ml) vials were collected and 50,374 vials were shipped to 190 different investigators during this same period of time. Currently, there are 47 freezers in the resource filled with 122,765 vials collected from Mayo patients, and 169,011 vials collected by other contractors under previous contracts.
