2009 Biospecimen research network symposium: advancing cancer research through biospecimen science.

This report details the proceedings of the 2009 Biospecimen Research Network (BRN) Symposium that took place on March 16 to 18, 2009, the second in a series of annual symposia sponsored by the National Cancer Institute Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research. The BRN Symposium is a public forum addressing the relevance of biospecimen quality to progress in cancer research and the systematic investigation needed to understand how different methods of collection, processing, and storage of human biospecimens affect subsequent molecular research results. More than 300 participants from industry, academia, and government attended the symposium, which featured both formal presentations and a day of workshops aimed at addressing several key issues in biospecimen science.

Investigation of drug-induced mitochondrial toxicity using fluorescence-based oxygen-sensitive probes.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a common mechanism of drug-induced toxicity. Early identification of new chemical entities (NCEs) that perturb mitochondrial function is of significant importance to avoid attrition in later stages of drug development. One of the most informative ways of assessing mitochondrial dysfunction is by measuring mitochondrial oxygen consumption.