U.S. National Institute of Health www.cancer.gov National Cancer Institute
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Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research
Launch NCI Best Practices for Biospecimen

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Overview

The lack of standardized, high-quality biospecimens is widely recognized as a significant roadblock to cancer research. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), through its Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research (OBBR), is leading a national initiative to systematically address and resolve one of the most difficult problems that will drive 21st century cancer research: the limited availability of carefully collected and controlled, high-quality human biospecimens annotated with essential clinical data and properly consented for broad investigational use. This issue has been repeatedly identified by the scientific community as a leading obstacle to progress in post-genomics cancer research, and the NCI is committed to resolving this complex problem through a multifaceted approach that addresses those factors under our control and provides insights that will inform broader policy making in this area.

The mission of OBBR is to guide, coordinate, and develop the Institute's biospecimen resources and capabilities and ensure that human biospecimens available for cancer research are of the highest quality. This will be accomplished through the development of a common biorepository infrastructure that promotes resource sharing and team science, in order to facilitate multi-institutional, high throughput genomic and proteomic studies.

OBBR Strategic Priorities

  • Develop and disseminate state-of-the-science methods to assess, improve, and ensure the quality of NCI-supported biospecimen resources.
  • Sponsor and collaborate on large-scale NCI projects in which the principles of high-quality shared biospecimen resources are critical for achieving the research goals.
  • Collaborate with other major initiatives outside the NCI to achieve global improvement in processes for biospecimen consent, handling, storage, and information management.
  • Develop educational tools and resources for all potential stakeholders that address the spectrum of issues related to human biospecimens to align interested constituencies on the importance of high-quality shared biospecimen resources.
  • Facilitate the establishment of a national resource for human biospecimen collection, processing, storage and distribution.

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