Environmental Medicine Genome Bank (EMGB): Current Composition

The Environmental Medicine Genome Bank (EMGB) project is an ongoing effort to identify and characterize genes relevant to environmental illnesses and to human physical performance. To accomplish this, the EMGB banks DNA samples from human volunteers who have participated in environmental and human performance studies or material obtained under approved Brigham and Women's Hospital protocols that would otherwise have been discarded. The EMGB maintains a registry of this phenotypic information. The EMGB can be used to identify polymorphisms in genes that are potentially of interest to environmental medicine and to obtain an estimate of the frequency of these polymorphisms in young, healthy U.S. adults because of the ethnically diverse and geographically dispersed backgrounds of the donors. Additionally, this resource also serves as a valuable source of control material for genetic studies of human diseases, such as asthma. The project is performed as part of a cooperative research and development agreement (CRDA) with the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. B-lymphocytes immortalized using the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) have been added to the EMGB in attempts to maintain stocks of genetic material that are phenotypically characterized. These samples include cells and DNA from asthmatics as well as characterized non-asthmatics. This report provides updated information about the samples currently stored in the EMGB. It is intended as a reference document for researchers who wish to make use of this resource, and fulfills the annual reporting requirement of CRDA number DAMD 17-00-0017. Prepared cooperation with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Ma.