STARlet easyBlood

Research Inst Of Fox Chase Can Ctr, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Biosample Repository Facility (BRF) at FCCC is one of the essential Core Facilities supported by the Comprehensive Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG). The central purpose of the BRF is to collect, process, maintain, and distribute the highest quality biospecimens from consenting patients and donors, with the intended purpose to support cancer research. According to the National Cancer Institute, high-quality biospecimens are defined as those that most closely resemble the biospecimen prior to its removal from the human research participant (http://biospecimens.cancer.gov/bestpractices/to/bcpsrd.asp). Variability in the biospecimen post collection processing environment can alter specimen characteristics. Changes of this nature have the potential to result in inaccurate and/or inconsistent determinations of the molecular and physical characteristics during downstream analysis.[1] Even the smallest of differences in the processing or handling of a specimen can have dramatic effects in analytical reliability and reproducibility. Fractionated blood products are the most valuable resource for the analysis of biomarkers given their relative ease of collection and handling.[2] Therefore, every attempt should be made to minimize environmental variations during sample processing in order to maintain biospecimen integrity. The goal of this Shared Instrumentation Grant application is to obtain instrumentation that will allow the FCCC BRF to automate and expedite the processing of fractionated blood material in a consistent manner. Since 2000, the FCCC BRF has collected, processed and banked over 50,000 blood samples for research use (See Figure 3, Instrumentation Plan). These specimens are a precious and essential resource for molecular, biochemical and cellular studies supporting research across the five FCCC CCSG research programs: Cancer Biology (CB); Cancer Prevention and Control (CPC); Cancer Epigenetics (CE); Molecular Therapeutics (MT); and Blood Cell Development and Function (BCDF).