Biospecimens & NCI

The NCI, through its Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research (OBBR), is leading a national initiative to systematically address and resolve one of the most difficult problems that will drive 21st century cancer research: the limited availability of carefully collected and controlled, high-quality human biospecimens annotated with essential clinical data and properly consented for broad investigational use. This issue has been repeatedly identified by the scientific community as the leading obstacle to progress in post-genomics cancer research, and the NCI is committed to resolving this complex problem through a multifaceted approach that addresses those factors under our control and provides insights that will inform broader policy making in this area.