AACR 101st Annual Meeting

NCI-SPONSORED SESSION AT AACR ON caHUB

AACR Dates: April 17-21, 2010
Location: Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.
Room: 140
Session Time: Sunday, April 18, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

NCI caHUB: Meeting the Biospecimen Demand for Post-Genomic Cancer Research

One of the most widely recognized and significant challenges to progress in cancer research is the lack of standardized, high-quality biospecimens. In response to this challenge, the National Cancer Institute is planning the development of a national Cancer Human Biobank (caHUB). NCI caHUB will be a unique public resource, the primary mission of which is to ensure the adequate and continuous supply of high-quality human biospecimens for the research community. 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. The quality of caHUB's biospecimen inventory will be ensured by acquiring only those 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. This session will address the caHUB planning process and mission, and review the implementation, structure, timeline and funding process for this national resource.

Topics and Speakers:

• Carolyn Compton, M.D., Ph.D., Director, NCI Office of Biorepositories & Biospecimen Research

• Holly Massett, Ph.D., Associate Director, NCI Office of Market Research and Evaluation

• Elaine Gunter, MT (ASCP), Founder & President, Specimens Solutions LLC

• Ann Ashby, MBA, Executive Director, Foundation for the NIH