Abstract 984: Planning for caHUB, NCI's cancer human biobank

Abstract

Abstract Many high-profile NCI initiatives are significantly impacted by biospecimen availability and quality. One of the newly delineated developmental pathways for transforming scientific discoveries into new clinical modalities for oncology, defined by NCI's Translational Research Working Group, is entirely biospecimen-based and is similarly impacted. Both direct experience with these initiatives as well as broader input from the scientific community, including recent results from a market research survey, have indicated a striking unmet need for high-quality human biospecimens. In response to this need, the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research (OBBR) is planning for the implementation of the cancer Human Biobank (caHUB). No centralized resource of this type exists at this time. This initiative will take advantage of resources already developed by the NCI, including the OBBR Biospecimen Research Network (BRN) and the NCI Best Practices for Biospecimen Resources (http://biospecimens.cancer.gov/practices/). The OBBR is engaging in a detailed process with a variety of planning groups, to address the requirements for implementation of caHUB. caHUB will acquire and make available to the research community biospecimens that have been collected according to the highest technical and ethical standards; provide biospecimen reference samples that serve as benchmarks for specimen integrity and molecular type; conduct research that supports evidence-based biospecimen best practices; and create opportunities for collaboration and information exchange across the research enterprise. caHUB will ensure the quality of its inventory by acquiring biospecimens that have been collected and processed according to evidence-based standard operating procedures, annotated with comprehensive clinical, molecular, and collection data, and procured from patients who received high-quality care. caHUB proposes to contract with military, community, and academic institutions to collect biospecimens and their associated data. Through a caBIG®-compliant public network, caHUB will make specimens and data available to a broad research community, including academia, government, private foundations, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and enable new collaborations among researchers in all areas of investigation, thereby accelerating the pace of discovery and innovation. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 984.