SUMMARY ACE Biorepository Core: Core Lead - Pascual, V. The NIAID Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence (ACE) strives to create a cooperative network intended to improve the understanding, prevention, and treatment of autoimmune disease. The goal of the ACE is to conduct insightful analyses using cutting edge human immunology research tools with samples from ACE Collaborative Centers, especially in the context of Clinical Projects, i.e., clinical trials with integrated mechanistic studies. It is intended that members of both the basic and clinical ACE will work synergistically to design, develop, and conduct studies on various autoimmune diagnoses in humans. Toward this end, cumulative efforts from involved ACE sites will generate an invaluable set of samples as a resource both for the proposed studies and future experimental questions. Thus, the necessary and important mission of the ACE Biorepository Core (ABC) is to ensure that samples will be systematically processed, catalogued and tracked, then appropriately stored and disseminated. The ABC at WCM is organized as a collective effort with laboratories affiliated with each of the patient enrollment sites to be determined by the ACE Steering Committee and NIAID. The ABC will operate under a common set of standard operating procedures, a common data management system, and a streamlined process for mechanistic laboratories to obtain samples to support experimental aspects of the ACE Program. Frequent communication across ACE sites, the Steering Committee and NIAID will ensure timely, accurate, precise and efficient sample coordination. The ABC at WCM will strive to uphold the founding premise of the ACE Program that collaborations among basic and clinical scientists can accelerate both fundamental and applied research.