Antimicrobial drug resistance is an emergent healthcare threat to the successful treatment of bacterial and fungal infections. The Biorepository Core for the Center for Antimicrobial Resistance and Therapeutic Discovery (CARTD) of The Miriam Hospital at Lifespan will serve as a source of characterized clinical isolates. Clinical isolates are microorganisms isolated from human specimens submitted for routine diagnostic testing. These microorganisms are essential for translational research and will directly support the proposed projects in Phase I of the CARTD. The primary services of the Biorepository Core will be:
Aim 1) To procure, store, track and release clinical isolates;
Aim 2) To confirm microorganism identification by 16s ribosomal (bacteria) or internal transcribed spacer region (fungal) sequencing;
Aim 3) To confirm phenotypic resistance profile of clinical isolates. The Biorepository Core will ensure the robustness and reproducibility of experiments performed by CARTD users by not only confirming clinical isolate identification and resistance phenotype but also providing antimicrobial susceptibility testing and genotypic resistance profiling for research use. Additionally the Biorepository Core will maintain a secure database for tracking of isolates deposited and withdrawn from the Core and associated data. Through collaborations with surrounding healthcare institutes the Biorepository Core plans to expand beyond Lifespan to create a regional Biorepository of clinical isolates. A strong Biorepository Core will strengthen the initiatives of the CARTD leading to important scientific discoveries in antimicrobial drug resistance and therapeutic discovery.
