title: National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank: A Platform for Collaborative Research and Mesothelioma Biobanking Resource to Support Translational Research.
abstract: The National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank (NMVB), developed six years ago, gathers clinically annotated human mesothelioma specimens for basic and clinical science research. During this period, this resource has greatly increased its collection of specimens by expanding the number of contributing academic health centers including New York University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Marketing efforts at both national and international annual conferences increase awareness and availability of the mesothelioma specimens at no cost to approved investigators, who query the web-based NMVB database for cumulative and appropriate patient clinicopathological information on the specimens. The data disclosure and specimen distribution protocols are tightly regulated to maintain compliance with participating institutions' IRB and regulatory committee reviews. The NMVB currently has over 1120 annotated cases available for researchers, including paraffin embedded tissues, fresh frozen tissue, tissue microarrays (TMA), blood samples, and genomic DNA. In addition, the resource offers expertise and assistance for collaborative research. Furthermore, in the last six years, the resource has provided hundreds of specimens to the research community. The investigators can request specimens and/or data by submitting a Letter of Intent (LOI) that is evaluated by NMVB research evaluation panel (REP).
authors: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors: Waqas
authors: 0000-0003-1250-7696
authors: W
authors: Amin
authors: Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors: Anil V
authors: AV
authors: Parwani
authors: Department of Pathology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Jonathan
authors: J
authors: Melamed
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Raja
authors: R
authors: Flores
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors: Arjun
authors: A
authors: Pennathur
authors: Department of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors: Federico
authors: F
authors: Valdivieso
authors: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors: Nancy B
authors: NB
authors: Whelan
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors: Rodeny
authors: R
authors: Landreneau
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors: James
authors: J
authors: Luketich
authors: Department of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Feldman
authors: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Harvey I
authors: HI
authors: Pass
authors: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Becich