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URL: http://www.seattle.eric.research.va.gov/VETR/biospecimen_repository.asp

Proper Citation: Vietnam Era Twin Registry Biospecimen Repository (RRID:SCR_008808)

Description: The Vietnam Era Twin (VET) Registry maintains a repository of biological specimens obtained from Registry members. The VET Registry Biospecimen Repository includes DNA, plasma, and serum samples obtained from selected VET Registry members. As the VET Registry is a national resource for studies investigating genetic and non-genetic influences on health and disease in middle age men, this enhances the value of the information collected from VET Registry members to the research community. The VET Registry has developed a general system of protocols for the collection and storage of biological specimens that assures confidentiality for all participants. The biological specimens currently in use are stored at the R&D Core Laboratory at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System (VAPSHCS) in Seattle, WA. The R&D Core Laboratory performs DNA extraction procedures and separates out DNA, plasma, and serum for testing and storage. It is important to note that Core Laboratory staff has absolutely no phenotypic (non-genetic) information about VET Registry members, as the lab is completely blinded to the identity, disease characteristics, and any other research data collected from VET Registry members. The Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC) Core Laboratory is located at the VA Boston Health Care System in Boston, MA, and serves as the long-term storage site for the VET Registry Biospecimen Repository. Before a VET Registry member decides whether to participate in the Biospecimen Repository, the procedures, confidentiality safeguards, and potential risks are explained in great detail. To be able to accommodate the wishes of members, a so-called layered consent process is used which allows members to choose from several options with regard to how their biological specimen will be used in current or future research studies. Such options may include: 1) not having their samples used for any testing beyond the immediate goals of the study; 2) allowing for future testing of their samples restricted to the study for which they provided the sample; or 3) allowing unrestricted future research use of their samples. Members are informed that any future use of their samples would have to be approved by the VET Registry, in addition to an independent ethics committee that protects the rights and welfare of research subjects, this board is more commonly known as an Institutional Review Board or IRB. Confidentiality safeguards include assigning code numbers, as opposed to name or other personal information, on all biological specimens. Zygosity Testing The accuracy of DNA testing makes it the best method for determining zygosity, identical (monozygotic) versus fraternal (non-identical or dizygotic), in VET Registry twin members. The use of DNA for zygosity testing is only performed when both members of a twin pair agree to the testing. Other Genetic Testing for specific genes will not necessarily involve providing the participants with test results.

Abbreviations: VET Registry Biospecimen Repository

Resource Type: biomaterial supply resource, material resource

Keywords: twin, male, adult, dna, plasma, serum, gene, genetic, health, disease, vietnam veteran