Biospecimen Archive Research Core (BARC)

BARC is an IRB-approved, fee-for-service archive of biospecimens operated by the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Our mission is to collect high quality samples of normal and diseased human material with appropriate clinical annotation and make these biospecimens available to qualified researchers. All subjects have given consent for these biospecimens to be used in broad applications of research, while the BARC is charged with protecting privacy and confidentiality of all participants.

All biospecimens collected from medical procedures at Boston Medical Center (BMC) have been procured from patients under rigorous quality management, processed and stored using NCI Best Practices.

• Applicants are required to have IRB approval or a non-human subjects (NHSR) designation to access samples & data
• Tissue samples are frozen and/or blocked in paraffin, with many having matching plasma samples
• Can work with investigators to get prospective samples if retrospective samples will not work
• Investigators must read BARC Material Use, Data Sharing and Publication Acknowledgment Agreement prior to requesting samples
• Fill out the BARC Access Survey for access to our services.
• BARC Oversight Committee will review and approve application to ensure feasibility
• Cost recovery fee
  • BU/BMC internal $40 per sample
• Contact us with questions, help planning a project, or requests for letters of support for funding applications.
• Histological services provided through Collaborative Research Laboratory (CoRe)

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DISEASE AND TISSUE TYPES REPRESENTED:

Please contact BARC@bmc.org for current inventory