For the past five years, the Laboratory Service Core (Laboratory Core) of the Center for Children's Environmental Health Research at the University of California, Berkeley, has provided the infrastructure for the creation of a large biorepository. The Core has developed standard operating procedures for sample collection, handling, processing, and banking. The Core has also developed and implemented a Quality Management Plan, designed a custom database and comprehensive data tracking procedures, and established and validated high-throughput methods to study biological endpoints. Over the next five years, the primary goal of the core will be to continue and expand its role in support of the Center's research projects. Core staff will perform key laboratory functions, including collecting additional biological samples and assuring optimal storage of already banked samples. The Core will oversee the development and implementation of protocols for the collection, labeling, processing, and banking of newly collected specimens, including advanced procedures for viable cell cryopreservation and cytokine analysis. The Core will coordinate shipment of all samples between the Center field office, central biorepository and collaborating analytical laboratories, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Core will continue to ensure compliance with quality assurance and quality control procedures related to all aspects of sample collection, processing, shipping, storage, and data management. In addition, the Center Biorepository will become a division of the newly created University of California, School of Public Health Biorepository. By pooling infrastructure and resources, the Core will enhance and expand its ability to provide state of the art laboratory support to the Center's research projects.
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