Biospecimens are the basis ofthe molecular characterization of both a disease and its host, and are crucial for modern molecular epidemiologic study. Our goals are to support the proposed projects as part of the Center of Molecular Epidemiology and build a sustainable biorepository that is state-of-the-art and internationally competitive. This will entail creating an infrastructure that provides optimal management and oversight of human biospecimens on a large, efficient scale. The state-of-the-art biorepository proposed in this Core will be housed in a CLIA-certified, College of American Pathologists (CAP)-accredited laboratory that will be renovated as part of this COBRE. The Core also will develop a state-of-the-art Biospecimen Resource Facility for longer-term off site specimen storage and retrieval. The Biorepository Core of the Center for Molecular Epidemiology at Dartmouth will coordinate all biospecimen triaging, processing, tracking, analytical preparation (including nucleic acid extraction), storage and retrieval to facilitate the needs of the four proposed projects. Additionally, personnel in the Core will provide education, training, consultation and specialized expertise to COBRE investigators. The accumulated biospecimens for all projects will involve thousands of diverse types of subject samples, with multiple aliquots, making the need for centralized, coordinated infrastructure to support these resources critically apparent. Web-based, interactive, searchable databases will be created to integrate the laboratory information systems and to coordinate de-identified specimen coding, tracking and retrieval, and to maintain accurate records of the availability of specimens for these projects. This will provide the researchers leading the four proposed research projects with standardized, appropriately maintained, high-quality biological samples central to their focus on understanding the molecular basis of complex disease interactions. This infrastructure will, in turn, provide the template for a comprehensive, coordinated institutional biorepository that will enhance cross-disciplinary translational research collaborations and the progression to personalized medical care.
Critical to successful molecular epidemiologic research are high quality, accessible human biological samples. The Biorepository Core will serve as the resource to process, track, store, retrieve and prepare biological samples for the research projects of the Center for Molecular Epidemiology and serve as the central resource for the use of biospecimens in these studies.
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