AIDS Specimen Bank Core
The UCSF-GIVI CFAR Specimen Bank Core has since 1987 provided expertise and an infrastructure for the collection, processing and storage of biospecimens for CFAR. The Specimen Bank Core, under the directorship of Dr. John S. Greenspan and Ms. Yvonne De Souza has provided repository services to many cohorts and clinical studies based in San Francisco, including the Women?s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), Biology of HIV Transmission (Options Cohort), Staying Well (Clinical trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction and education groups for HIV), and SFGH Observational Cohort Evaluating Long-Term Consequences of Virologic Failure (SCOPE).
The Specimen Bank Core has received over 439,000 deposits and has shipped over 437,000 specimens aliquots worldwide, including whole blood, serum, plasma, leukocytes, fresh frozen and fixed tissue, urine, saliva, semen, cerebrospinal fluid, oral and vaginal mucosal swabs, and cervico-vaginal lavage. A goal of the Core is to continue its current repository functions and to further develop as a local and national resource for investigators pursing translational research.
Specific Aims of the Specimen Bank Core (ASB) are to:
- Process, inventory, and store (short and long term) biospecimens collected from CFAR investigators non-CFAR investigators
- Provide well-characterized biospecimens to support CFAR investigations and to provide specimens to non-CFAR investigators to enhance collaboration between CFAR and non-CFAR investigators
- Provide consultation and training for CFAR and non-CFAR investigators seeking information on optimal specimen collection, processing, storage, and shipment
- Advise international CFAR investigators on specimen banking and storage procedures
- Coordinate with the AIDS Research Institute (ARI) in working with the Joint Cores (Specimen Bank and Virology) Advisory Committee
- To be a bio-banking resource for the UCSF research community