LABORATORY OF DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

描述(由申请人提供)：出生缺陷研究实验室，由美国国立卫生研究院资助45年，是收集和分发人类受孕组织的主要国家资源，供全国大学和非营利性机构资助的研究人员使用。实验室迄今已收集了大约22 000件标本，分发工作继续增加，过去七年提供了330名调查员，而前一个赠款周期提供了171名调查员，这一事实凸显了实验室的重要性。在此期间提供的关于组织的研究导致了近500篇报告发表的文章，而之前只有120篇。干细胞生物学、发育基因组学、转译研究以及生物医学研究中其他活跃领域的最新进展，使得研究人员以科学控制和IRB批准的方式可靠地提供受孕组织的能力比以往任何时候都更有价值。 终止实践的变化，包括更新的医疗和非手术程序，以及使用药物来确保不能存活的标本的交付，为获得研究所需的足够数量的高质量组织制造了新的障碍。为了克服这些问题并满足日益增长的需求，实验室与当地和远程诊所发展了新的关系。此外，经验丰富的工作人员的效率和专业知识使实验室能够最大限度地从每个标本中提取样本。 新的举措包括强调提供干细胞并与华盛顿大学和其他机构的干细胞研究人员合作，以及增加总的分配。为此，调查人员已为实验室成立并召集了一个咨询委员会，并计划每年参加几次科学会议，以突出我们为感兴趣的调查人员提供的服务。他们还计划为组织接受者开发一个网站，并利用他们的电子数据库来确保组织样本的质量。最后，他们建议探索一种新的成像系统--光学投影层析成像--在实验室计划中的应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Birth Defects Research Laboratory, funded by the NIH for 45 years, is the major national resource for collection and distribution of human conceptal tissue to grant-funded investigators at universities and nonprofit institutions nationwide. The Laboratory has collected approximately 22,000 specimens to-date, and its importance is highlighted by the fact that distribution continues to increase, with 330 investigators supplied during the past seven years, compared with 171 in the prior grant cycle. Research on tissues provided during this period resulted in nearly 500 reported publications, compared with 120 previously. Recent progress in stem cell biology, developmental genomics, translational research, and other active areas in biomedical research have made the investigators' ability to reliably provide conceptal tissue in a scientifically controlled and IRB approved manner more valuable than ever. Changes in termination practice, including newer medical, non-surgical procedures, and the use of agents to ensure delivery of nonviable specimens, have created new obstacles to obtaining sufficient amounts of high quality tissue required for research. To overcome these problems and meet increasing demand, the Laboratory has developed new relationships with both local and distant clinics. Additionally, the efficiency and expertise of the experienced staff enables the Laboratory to maximize the samples retrieved from each specimen. New initiatives include an emphasis on supplying and collaborating with stem cell investigators at the University of Washington and other institutions, as well as increasing total distribution. To this end, the investigators have formed and convened an advisory board for the Laboratory and plan to attend several scientific meetings annually to highlight our services to interested investigators. They also plan to develop a website for tissue recipients and utilize their electronic database to assure the quality of tissue samples. Finally, they propose to explore the utility of a new imaging system, Optical Projection Tomography, to the Laboratory program.