The purpose of the TPC at Ponce School of Medicine (PSM) is to facilitate the collection, processing, and storage of well-annotated human biospeclmens for use in investigator-initiated translational cancer research. Throughout the past five years a solid infrastructure was put in place to develop the first tumor tissue bank In Puerto Rico, capable of the optimal collection, processing, and distribution of biological materials derived from the island's Hispanic population. Through this unique resource, which follows the same standard operational procedures (SOPs) established at the Tissue Core at MCC (and which are I approved by our institutions'IRB committees), fresh tissues and high quality RNA are already available to | support research at both institutions focusing on the molecular aspects and biological determinants of cancer health disparities involving Puerto Rican Hispanics living in Puerto Rico and Hispanics living in Florida. This facility is a valuable resource of high public health significance given that 1) Hispanics represent 15% of the US population (the fastest growing minority population), 2) most cancer health-disparity studies in the US have been conducted with Mexican-American populations, 3) there are differences in cancer trends and unique aspects associated to cancer health disparities among the different Hispanic populations, and 4) there is a scarcity of basic science-oriented cancer studies involving Puerto Ricans. Availability of biospeclmens (normal/tumor tissue, serum/DNA) from this population will support much needed research on cancer health disparities and facilitate answering questions on gene-environment-culture interactions involving Hispanics.
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