Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Shared Resource

Contact Information

Director: Christopher Loffredo, PhD
Tel: (202) 687-3758
Fax: (202) 784-3034
CAL9@georgetown.edu

Associate Director: Celia Byrne, PhD
Tel: (202) 687-7645
cb252@georgetown.edu

Associate Director: Yun-Ling Zheng, PhD
Tel. 202-687-6654
yz37@georgetown.edu

Description

The Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Shared Resource manages:

A biological repository or "bank" of blood samples from nearly 1,000 breast cancer patients and 1,000 non-cancer controls
Specimens and data from patients with lung or colon cancers
Samples linked to clinical and epidemiological database
Includes serum, plasma, and lymphocyte samples, stored at -80 C
Clinical follow-up data available.

Services

The Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Shared Resource:

Provides samples and data for the following types of studies:
- etiologic / molecular epidemiology
- biomarkers for early detection
- prognostic biomarkers
- predictive biomarkers (response to therapy)
- biomarkers of tumor burden
- development / optimization of assays for new markers
Provides epidemiological consultation for study design, data analysis
Provides data entry for questionnaires or other research forms, and
development of new survey instruments

Samples and data available:

Samples from women with all stages of breast cancer
Samples obtained prior to, during, and after chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or radiation therapy
Clinical data detailing type of treatment, duration, response to treatment, relapse and survival
Samples from women with high risk of breast cancer
Samples from women with normal risk of breast cancer
Data on family history and history of benign or premalignant lesions
A subset of samples is linked to tumor specimens in the Histopathology and Tissue Shared Resource
Detailed data on sociodemographic factors and potential risk factors, such as alcohol, reproductive history and occupation

Services in development:

Serum, plasma from patients with head and neck cancers and prostate cancer

Eligibility

Any qualified scientist with an appropriate research plan may request samples from the Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Shared Resource.

Procedures

Contact the Associate Director of the Shared Resource to determine feasibility.

Fill out the appropriate Request Form: (available here, or by fax)
The request forms are PDF format. Please click here for more information on PDF format.

CMESR Investigator Service Request
Request Forms are reviewed by Director of Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Shared Resource and Oversight Committee

Fees

A fee schedule can be obtained from the Resource Manager, but fees generally run from $60 - $100 per sample, including data and consultation. More extensive data analysis will be billed hourly.

Example Publications

Tercyak KP, Davis KM, Loffredo CA. Behavioral risk factors among Black and White women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology 2007;16: 224-31.

DeMarco TA, Loffredo CA, Sampilo ML, Tercyak KP. On using a cancer center cancer registry to identify newly affected women eligible for hereditary breast cancer syndrome testing: practical considerations. J Genet Couns 2006;15: 129-36.

Rae JM, Cordero KE, Scheys JO, Lippman ME, Flockhart DA, Johnson MD. Genotyping for polymorphic drug metabolizing enzymes from paraffin-embedded and immunohistochemically stained tumor samples. Pharmacogenetics 2003;13:501-507.

Brankin B, Skaar TC, Brotzman M, Trock B, Clarke R. Autoantibodies to the nucleolar phosphoprotein nucleophosmin in breast cancer patients. Cancer Epidemiol Biomark Prev 1998; 7:1109-1115.

Acknowledgements

For funding purposes, it is important to acknowledge the Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Shared Resource in all publications that include data derived from the resource.