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• Banque de cellules leucémiques du Québec

Banque de cellules leucémiques du Québec, Canada

Objective: The Quebec Leukemia Cell Bank (BCLQ, www.bclq.org) is a provincial program funded by the Cancer Research Network of the Fonds de la Recherche du Québec en Santé (FRQS). It groups together hematologists, researchers and clinical scientists from Quebec universities (including Université Laval, McGill, Sherbrooke, Montréal) and affiliated research centers. The cell bank has been in operation since 2001.The primary objective of the Quebec Leukemia Cell Bank is to support basic, translational and clinical research in hematological cancers. Blood tumors studied include mostly acute leukemias but also chronic myeloid leukemias, myelodysplastic syndromes, myelomas, and lymphoproliferative syndromes. These specimens are characterized by morphology, immunonophenotyping by flow cytometry, standard and molecular cytogenetics/cytogenomics, mutation profiling and are cryopreserved to allow for highly specialized studies. The normal DNA extracted from buccal swabs or saliva is preserved for the majority of samples stored in the biobank. Data including laboratory tests and clinical parameters for each sample are indexed in a computerized databank. The cell bank receives annually 150 specimens of malignant blood diseases from ten hospitals. To date, more than 2500 samples of hematologic cancers have been collected with informed consent. The Scientific Committee evaluates applications for samples submitted to the Quebec Leukemia Cell Bank. Since opening to researchers in 2003, several researchers have benefited from this infrastructure.