As part of VA’s effort to combat emerging diseases, the VA Office of Research and Development (ORD) has established a central biospecimen bank and data repository called the Science and Health Initiative to Combat Infectious and Emerging Life-Threatening Diseases (VA SHIELD).
VA SHIELD is designed to create a comprehensive repository of disease specimens and associated data available to advance scientific understanding of diseases and develop diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative strategies for immediate use in clinical environments. VA SHIELD’s infrastructure now consists of a Coordinating Center, twelve collection sites, two biobanks, and a bioinformatics core.
As of August 2023, the biorepository has collected more than 40,000 specimens from VA hospitals. VA principal investigators are invited to request sharing those specimens for research purposes.
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