Institut Paoli-Calmettes Tumour Bank

Site location: Comprehensive Cancer Center, Marseille, France

Contact information:

Contact: Dr. Christian Chabannon, M.D., Ph.D.

Tel: +33 4 91 22 34 90

E-mail: coordinationbiotheque@marseille.fnclcc.fr

Web: http://www.biobank-paca.com

Date of operations (date of formal start of current bank operation): April, 2000

Date range of cases (date of first and last case accrued): 1981-present

Category of biobank: Disease-oriented human biobank

Primary research focus of biobank (Basic, Translational, Epidemiological, Clinical): translational and clinical research in oncology

Membership of biobanks (networks, affiliations): Affiliated with the Comprehensive Cancer Center (Institut Paoli-Calmettes), Aix-Marseille Université & Inserm (French National Institute of Health and Biomedical Research). A member of the Cancéropôle PACA Tumor Bank Network

Major source of funding for biobank: Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Not-for-profit Hospital, Comprehensive Cancer Center in Marseille

Proportional funding sources for biobank: (use following categories, #s or estimates)

Institution core budget: 60%

Public targeted donation/foundation: <5%

Grants: 30%

User fees: 5%

Example input statistics:

Overall response to consent (Yes/No/Unknown %): 33% yes

Total individual cases held: 33,645 (19,445 persons treated at Institut Paoli- Calmettes & 14,205 persons for whom at least one sample was sent to the IPC Tumour bank)

% cases associated with frozen tumor biospecimen: 100%

% cases associated with frozen tumor and blood biospecimens: 12%

Example output statistics:

Approximate # of studies supported last year: 16 new scientific projects with use of biological samples stored at IP Biobank and biological monitoring for 72 ongoing clinical trials (2009)

Approximate # of cases released last year: 362 (2009)

Publications in past year (based on biobank and users): 27 (2009)

In your view, what are the most valuable/high priority cases in your biobank?

Collection of cryopreserved leukemic blasts and DNA/RNA extracted from leukemic blasts obtained from adult patients with acute leukemia, and long-term clinical follow-up.

Collection of primary tumor tissues obtained from women with breast cancer, for whom long-term follow-up is available. This includes specific forms of the disease such as inflammatory breast cancer.

What are your major challenges?

1) Adapting to the ever-increasing and ever-changing demand from both academic and private end-users.

2) Organizing the collection, preservation and update of biological and clinical data associated with human samples.

What would you do with $1 million to improve the value of your biobank?

1) Improve the quality and robustness of associated biological and clinical data for a higher proportion of samples.

2) Increase the proportion of tissue and cell samples, from which qualified DNA and RNA (in the future protein extraction may be included) is prospectively and immediately extracted before storage and distribution.