4 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Millions of persons are affected by brain diseases. The CereBank will be used to support research studies aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases. Brain diseases can be inherited; developed due to diseases or aging; or can be due to trauma. The Central Florida does not have a brain biobank to meet the needs of research. Therefore, it is necessary for the University of Central Florida to establish a brain biobank.
Since the inception of aerospace travel, NASA has been collecting biospecimens from professional astronauts for research. With the recent growth of civilian aerospace travelers, there is a need for biospecimen banking for civilian astronauts. This protocol addresses this gap by being a biobank for civilian astronauts, their family members (to be controls) and others who are also doing travel to extreme environments (pilots, submariners).
Research with stored biospecimens can provide substantial societal benefits, including greater understanding of cancer etiology and discovery of new cancer therapies, but one critical social and ethical issue is the use of samples for research unplanned at the time of biospecimen collection. Various models for consent (i.e., no consent, notice, opt-out, broad consent, study-specific consent) have been proposed for secondary research use of biospecimens, but empirical data on individuals' preferences for different consent models are limited, particularly from those with limited health literacy and from racial and ethnic minority groups. It is critically important to understand the consent preferences of diverse individuals, as participation of all population subgroups in biobanks is essential to reach translational cancer research goals. Based on a social ecological conceptual framework, the investigators will examine preferences for consent models for secondary research uses of biospecimens among a racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of women 35 years of age and older. The investigators aim to compare experimentally the effect of consent model on intentions to donate biospecimens for future research use among a diverse sample of women. The investigators hypothesize that women will have stronger intentions to donate based on the broad model of consent and the study-specific model of consent compared with the notice model of consent. These findings from groups underrepresented in research will be critical since the participation of these groups in biobanks is essential to generating findings that will achieve translational research goals of eliminating cancer disparities.
The exploring men's prostate cancer genetic risk perceptions and willingness to give a biospecimen for genetic risk testing study aims to assess prostate cancer genetic risk and susceptibility beliefs among unaffected men of diverse races/ethnicities who are considering undergoing prostate cancer screening and their willingness of men to provide a biospecimen (saliva sample) and test the samples for prostate cancer aggressiveness and determine risk category based on SNP genetic profile.