# Core 3: Pathology & Biospecimens Core

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA · 2024 · $133,927

## Abstract

SUMMARY /ABSTRACT
 Access to relevant biospecimens is critical to translational research on minority populations. The lack of
research specimens from racial and ethnic minority populations in the U.S. remains a barrier to understanding
racial/ethnic differences in cancer development, progression, and outcomes. In particular, the paucity of clinical
biospecimens from understudied populations, including Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders, and Asian
Americans has limited the ability to address critical disparities in cancer risk and outcomes affecting these U.S.
communities. Hawaiʻi, the most ethnically diverse state in the nation, has experienced a higher burden of
common cancers-- including liver, breast, lung, colorectum, endometrium, and stomach, compared to the U.S
overall. Moreover, wide racial and ethnic disparities are observed within Hawaiʻi's uniquely diverse multiethnic
population including Native Hawaiians who have the highest mortality for breast, liver, lung, and other common
malignancies. The value of the biospecimens collected at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center (UHCC) is
evident in the breadth and scope of its translational research. Despite this progress, biorepository efforts at the
UHCC to date have been fragmented and limited for certain types of specimens, especially fresh frozen tumor
tissue. Current UHCC biospecimen resources include a statewide repository of clinically-annotated, de-identified
archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue and prospectively and retrospectively collected
blood, urine, oral rinses, and stool from consented individuals. In contrast, the collection of fresh frozen tissue
has been largely limited to small scale collections for disparate investigator-initiated studies. There is a crucial
need at UHCC to standardize and centralize the collection of fresh frozen tumor and blood from cancer patients
in our participating community hospitals and to integrate these collections with existing resources in order to
optimize their utility for cancer research. We propose to develop a Pathology and Biospecimen Core that will
integrate and augment existing and new biospecimen resources with respect to their acquisition,
processing, tracking, storage, and distribution and will support Project 1 (NASH/liver cancer), Project 2 (lung
cancer), Project 3 (breast cancer), Career Enhancement Program (CEP) and Developmental Research Program
(DRP) projects, as well as other UHCC investigations with the goal of developing a robust infrastructure to
address differences in cancer risk and outcomes in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
(AANHPI) ethnic minority populations. Aim 1 will focus on the development of a repository of paired fresh frozen
tumor tissue and blood specimens from multiethnic cancer cases diagnosed in the state of Hawaiʻi with cancers
of the lung, liver, breast, colorectum, endometrium, pancreas, and stomach. Potential cases will be identified via
rapid rep...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10931610
- **Project number:** 5P20CA275734-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA
- **Principal Investigator:** Brenda Yukari Hernandez
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $133,927
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-19 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10931610

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10931610, Core 3: Pathology & Biospecimens Core (5P20CA275734-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10931610. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*