title: The Alaska Area Specimen Bank: a tribal-federal partnership to maintain and manage a resource for health research.
abstract: Banked biospecimens from a defined population are a valuable resource that can be used to assess early markers for illness or to determine the prevalence of a disease to aid the development of intervention strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality. The Alaska Area Specimen Bank (AASB) currently contains 266,353 residual biologic specimens (serum, plasma, whole blood, tissue, bacterial cultures) from 83,841 persons who participated in research studies, public health investigations and clinical testing conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service and Alaska Native tribal health organisations dating back to 1961. The majority (95.7%) are serum specimens, 77% were collected between 1981 and 1994 and 85% were collected from Alaska Native people. Oversight of the specimen bank is provided by a working group with representation from tribal, state and federal health organisations, the Alaska Area IRB and a specimen bank committee which ensures the specimens are used in accordance with policies and procedures developed by the working group.
authors.affiliation: Arctic Investigations Program, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Anchorage, AK-99508, USA. ajp1@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Alan J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Parkinson
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hennessy
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bulkow
authors.forename: H Sally
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska; D001110:Arctic Regions; D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D015415:Biomarkers; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D006801:Humans; D057766:Policy
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Biobanking; Tribal and Federal Management; policy and procedures