Tissue Procurement for Biomedical Research

The need to obtain human tissue for methods development and disease correlation is frequent in Biomedical Research Center laboratories. This protocol is designed to create the opportunity to obtain such tissue samples including: blood, urine, saliva, sweat, feces, hair and nail clippings, nasal scraping, muscle, fat, skin and taste buds. It may also include samples taken during a surgical procedure, including: fluid from around the spinal column, heart, lungs and abdomen; fat, muscle, connective tissue and organs (liver, bladder, heart, kidney and skin). Information derived from such studies is for research purposes only and is not provided to the participants or their health care provider. Samples will be coded (no names) and identifying information linking the participant to the sample will be maintained in a secure location by the P.I. and Study Coordinator. Participants will be 18 years or older and have been identified by the investigator and/or physician to have a condition of interest for exploratory studies related to the participant s illness or other feature that offers the possibility of creating information that leads to scientifically useful and important studies. Participants could also be healthy volunteers, willing to provide their samples. These samples could be requested by an investigator to be used as age, gender, race and/or ethnicity-matched controls or to calibrate or compare and contrast across lab equipment. Participants will be excluded if obtaining the sample would be over and above usual clinical care, would result in excessive blood loss, or the individual is unable to provide informed consent. The expected outcome is to provide investigators with the opportunity to obtain tissues of interest for laboratory evaluation.