BioVU is Vanderbilt's biorepository of DNA extracted from discarded blood collected during routine clinical testing and linked to de-identified medical records in the Synthetic Derivative. The goal of BioVU is to provide a resource to Vanderbilt investigators for studies of genotype-phenotype associations. Planning for BioVU began in mid-2004 and the first samples were collected in February 2007. As of mid-2012 BioVU contains 150,000 samples with over 16,000 pediatric samples. Approximately 600-800 BioVU samples are accrued each week. Acceptance of a sample triggers the encryption program to assign a unique research ID number to the sample. The unique research ID is generated by a Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-512, National Security Administration). SHA-512 generated a unique 128 character (512 bit) code that serves as the unique research ID that links the DNA samples to the de-identified clinical data and resulting genotype data.
DNA samples or genotyping data may be requested after a proposal for the study is received, approved by the BioVU Review Committee and a user agreement is signed. BioVU applications, amendments and data use agreements for BioVU and the Synthetic Derivative are tracked through REDCap databases.