Washington University Center for Translational Neuroscience

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Facilitated access to high quality, clinically annotated biospecimens is critical for leveraging new genomic[unreadable] and proteomic technologies to better understand diseases of the human nervous system. On-going efforts[unreadable] at our institution have created several biospecimen repositories for select nervous system disorders such as[unreadable] Alzheimer's disease, but human specimen resources are less adequate for many other disease types.[unreadable] Accordingly, the goal of the Biospecimen and Clinical Data Acquisition Core is to facilitate the coordinated[unreadable] collection, processing, storage, and distribution of biospecimens and clinical data from patients within a[unreadable] broad representation of disorders of the nervous system. The first aim of this core is to initiate the collection[unreadable] of biospecimens and associated clinical data from patient populations where little support currently exists.[unreadable] The Core will assist investigators who wish to collect biospecimens for specific research protocols, but will[unreadable] also act as a more general resource to bank biospecimens from patients with disorders of the nervous[unreadable] system for future retrospective studies. Collected specimens will include serum, plasma, CSF, genomic[unreadable] DNA, and in some cases, tissue (e.g. surgically resected epileptic foci). Where appropriate, such as in[unreadable] diseases as multiple sclerosis, emphasis will be placed on collecting samples at multiple time points to[unreadable] create a set of biospecimens that can be analyzed over the patient's clinical course. The second aim of this[unreadable] core is to catalyze the integration of several large, pre-existing biorepositories and clinical databases using a[unreadable] set of common data elements and a web-based biospecimen informatics system ("nsTissue Core") to create[unreadable] a virtual repository of biospecimens from patients with a wide variety of neurological and psychaitric[unreadable] diseases. As part of this aim, we will also seek to harmonize collection and processing protocols and to[unreadable] share technical resources, making the collection of biospecimens from patients with disorders of the nervous[unreadable] system at our institution more efficient and uniform. As a model for this approach, we will seek to integrate[unreadable] resources from our Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) and the Movement Disorders Clinic. The[unreadable] third aim of this core is to make accessible an inventory of available biospecimen resources and deidentified[unreadable] data generated from the first two aims. Authorized intramural and extramural neuroscience[unreadable] investigators will be able to query this resource, for the purposes of sharing collected biospecimens to[unreadable] promote novel translational studies and collaborations in translational neuroscience.