Privacy Act Memo

DATE:

June 8, 2023

TO:

Joanne Demchok, Director
Cancer Diagnosis Program, Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis
National Cancer Institute

FROM:

NIH Privacy Act Officer

SUBJECT: Applicability of the Privacy Act: Specimen Resource Locator (SRL)
I have reviewed the NCI submission to OMB to use the SRL database to increase its knowledge of
cancer biology, and translate important research discoveries to clinical application.
The SRL will catalogue NCI’s specimen resources. The database will allow NCI and scientists in the
research community to search and locate specimens needed for research. It will list all NCI-supported
specimen repositories and a link to those repositories that can be shared with the scientific community.
The information collected from participating resources (i.e., cooperative groups, networks,
consortiums, universities, and projects) will be used to characterize the inventory and allow scientists
to query the SRL database by category, to retrieve the bio specimens and annotations that may be
needed for research:
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Specimen Type: tissue, blood, DNA, RNA and more
Preservation Method: Formalin-fixed Paraffin-embedded
Tumor Type: carcinoma, malignant tumor, sarcoma
Annotation Type: demography, risk factor, treatment, family history
Organization: academia, commercial, non-profit
Number of specimens
Collection Type: cancer clinical trial, collaboration, NIH/NCI

I have determined the Privacy Act will not apply to this information collection. The name and contact
information of the specimen resource company/institution participants will be collected via a short,
online information form. The form will facilitate the entry of specimen resource information while
creating a comprehensive database for the SRL. Meta data will be collected to describe the specimen
collections. However, no individual level data will be collected.
If you have any questions, please contact my office at (301) 402-6469.

Dustin B. Close -S
Dustin Close
NIH Privacy Act Officer
cc: Diane Kreinbrink, NCI PRA Liaison

Digitally signed by Dustin B.
Close -S
Date: 2023.06.08 09:35:27 -04'00'