ABSTRACT – TISSUE MODELING & DRUG DEVELOPMENT CORE (SHARED RESOURCE) The goal of the Florida-California Cancer Research, Education, & Engagement (CaRE2) Health Equity Center’s Tissue Modeling and Drug Development Core (TMDDC) is to provide a growing archive of fixed and living tissues that will support the mission of the CaRE2 Center. In the first funding period (Cycle 1), we were highly successful in gaining access for FAMU and CaRE2 researchers to annotated tissues from Black/African American (B/AA) and Hispanic/Latinx (H/L). In total, the TMDDC now has regulatory compliant access across the partnership to cancer cases including pancreatic cancer blocks (295 B/AA, 306 H/L), pancreatic cancer plasma/serum (136 B/AA, 53 H/L), prostate cancer blocks (548 B/AA, 195 H/L), and prostate plasma/serum (595 B/AA, 92 H/L). Also, the TMDDC facilitated creation or identification of 4 new patient-derived xenografts (PDX) from B/AA patients with pancreatic cancer for studies at FAMU and USC. The TMDDC will continue to develop a robust, well-annotated biorepository of fixed and living tissue samples from a racially and ethnically diverse Florida and California patient population and make them available to the CaRE2 investigators. The TMDDC will consist of existing institutional, nationally shared, and future-conscious biorepository resources. The short-term goals of the TMDDC are to provide the necessary tissue samples for the three projects included in this application, while preparing for the future needs of the existing and upcoming CaRE2 Center projects. The TMC will address the challenge of recruiting B/AA and H/L individuals in medical research and the limited supply of quality biospecimens and genomic data for these populations. Our specific aims are to: Aim 1. Advance our existing virtual and physical repositories that will increasingly provide biospecimens from diverse tumor repositories through a single access point provided by the CaRE2 Center. Many cancer types and many tissue models are relevant to outcomes in disparities research. The broad types of tissues and data required to study these complex issues make acquisition of a fully satisfactory repository beyond the scope of any single institution. Therefore, we will develop capabilities to collect or acquire novel diverse and well annotated specimens through our institutional resources and other resources. Aim 2. Acquire living tumor tissue for drug development. PDXs have proven to better predict human drug responses than historically used cell-line derived studies. Development of these PDXs has the potential to facilitate rapid drug development, including testing response as a function of race/ancestry. The TMDDC will advance the existing Cycle 1 developed tissue repository at FAMU. The TMDDC will advance on the existing living tissue repository at FAMU. By achieving these aims, we will: (1) enhance cancer disparities tissue-modeling research; (2) expand cancer disparities resources for CaRE2 researchers, and (3) ensure a sustained focus on transferring know-how, technology, and collaborations with FAMU. Evaluation will be based on adequate provision of project-required specimens/resources and by success in transferring drug development technology and knowhow to FAMU.