Building a DoD Biorepository for the Future: Potential Benefits and Way Forward

Significant advances have been made in the molecular analyses of the human physiological state. In general, these techniques have been termed "omics" because of their requirements for sophisticated analyses of large datasets. Application of these new omics technologies has led to advances in medical practice related to public health as well as a new field termed personalized medicine. The Department of Defense (DoD) consistently needs the ability to identify people who have been exposed to environmental hazards during deployments and in their day-to-day jobs. The department currently has a biorepository of sera collected from military service members and has used that repository to study potential environmental exposures (toxins and infectious diseases) since 1987. The DoD Serum Repository is also linked to service member health records, making it a very powerful tool for studies related to force health protection and public health practice. However, this repository does not contain a reliable source of nucleic acid. Accordingly, to take advantage of modern molecular omics technologies, the DoD should establish an enhanced biospecimen repository that can support future questions related to force health protection. This article briefly discusses the various omics techniques, and how they can be used for analyses to support medical practice and public health.