Nestled inside a generic-looking office building in suburban Maryland, down the hall from cable-provider Comcast, sit seven stacked freezers: the largest blood serum repository in the world.
The bank of massive freezers—and its contents—is maintained by the Department of Defense (DoD). The cache of government-owned serum may provide unique insights into the workings of various maladies when linked with detailed information on service members’ demographics, deployment locations and health survey data. New research projects tapping the precious serum could lead to breakthroughs in some of the hottest topics in military research—including the hunt for biomarkers for post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide risk.
But not all contributors to the repository are enthusiastic about—or even necessarily aware of—their participation.
Read the full, original story here: Pentagon’s Giant Blood Serum Bank May Provide PTSD Clues
Additional Resources:
- “Harnessing Full Value from the DoD Serum Repository and the Defense Medical Surveillance System,” Rand Corporation
This report offers a comprehensive look at the Department of Defense Serum Repository, as of 2010. - “Guidelines for Collecting, Maintaining, Requesting, and Using Specimens Stored in the Department of Defense Serum Repository,” U.S. Army Center of Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine
This report includes information about exactly when samples are collected, who gets informed of what, and how samples can be used.