Mesothelioma Tissue Bank Will Get $5.5M Funding Grant

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) plans to award a five-year, $5.5 million grant to continue funding the much-needed National Mesothelioma Virtual Bank (NMVB) through 2021. The NMVB is a biospecimen registry designed to facilitate scientific research of mesothelioma, the rare and aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. It is the only federally funded program designed exclusively for mesothelioma research. "It's often difficult to pull enough material together for [researching] a disease like this," Dr. Ainsley Weston, associate director for science at NIOSH, told Asbestos.com. "This project provides access to the tools that researchers need to make progress." The NMVB has been based at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center since its opening in 2006, but the latest funding opportunity is open now to any institution that meets the strict guidelines for hosting it. The goal of the grant is to help researchers develop novel therapies, better diagnostic tools, preventative measures and eventually find a cure, all through collaboration made possible by the NMVB. It provides researchers around the world with fresh frozen tissue samples, blood and DNA samples and corresponding patient information, including demographic data, cancer stage and treatment history. And it's free. Mesothelioma Tissue Bank Is a Foundation for Many Studies There currently are 1,198 annotated mesothelioma cases and 1,397 biospecimens in the ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Research & Clinical Trials Source Type: news