Investigator Requests for Resources

Guidelines & Policies
The UCSF Memory and Aging Center (MAC) encourages and facilitates research and publications by current and new investigators. The UCSF-MAC is eager to help generate successful proposals, secure funding, and complete and publish study results.

Investigators can request the following resources from the MAC:

• Subjects for research studies
• Archived data
• Imaging data
• Tissue specimens

All MAC resource requests must be approved by the UCSF-MAC Resource Request Executive Committee which meets monthly to review all requests.

Prior to submitting any application making use of UCSF-MAC resources, it is critical that you consult appropriate Core Leaders. Failure to do so could delay approval of your request. If you have any questions on which Core is appropriate, contact Rosalie Gearhart at (415) 476-5570.

• Clinical Core — Dr. Bruce Miller
• Psychometric Core — Dr. Joel Kramer
• Neuropathology/Tissue Core — Dr. John Trojanowski
• Data Management & Biostatistics Core (can be of substantial help regarding design, power estimations and analyses) — Prof. John Neuhaus
• Neuroimaging Core — Dr. Michael Weiner

Investigators who propose use of UCSF-MAC resources need to submit a completed proposal (purpose, background and preliminary findings, methods, analytical plan) with abstract to the UCSF-MAC Resource Request Executive Committee for review.

General Procedures

Human Studies approvals

1. Studies using human subjects from the UCSF-MAC, their tissue, imaging or data derived from such subjects, must obtain Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from the University of California, San Francisco Committee on Human Research (UCSF CHR: Forms for protocol submission can be obtained from the UCSF CHR’s website. The UCSF CHR will not review the application until the UCSF-MAC Executive Committee has signed off on the proposal/consent form; therefore please be certain to submit this proposal early enough for UCSF-MAC Resource Request Executive Committee review.
2. IRB approval is not required for submitting your proposal to us for review, however, you must provide the UCSF-MAC office a copy of your IRB approved protocol and consent form approval prior to initiating your study. Multi-year studies should forward copies of renewed approval annually to the UCSF-MAC office:
   UCSF-MAC Resource Request Executive Director
   350 Parnassus Avenue, Suite 905
   San Francisco, CA 94143-1207)
   Failure to provide approvals to the UCSF-MAC office will delay your access to UCSF-MAC resources.
3. Please include language in your consent form that permits the future use of the data you collect (e.g., "Your data may be used by the research team now and in the future to answer questions about health concerns, memory and thinking.")
4. If your request involves archival data, imaging or tissue, approval or exemption from the UCSF CHR is still required (e.g., analyses of computerized images or re-analysis of previously collected data to answer a new question).

Human studies rules regarding use of subject names

1. It is a violation of University policy and our UCSF-MAC Human Studies approval to link subjects' names and scores in any way. ALL INDIVIDUAL DATA MUST BE KEPT/FILED BY UCSF-MAC SUBJECT ID NUMBER, not name or subject's initials. Should a second unique identifier be necessary as a cross-check, we recommend you use the subject's date of birth. Any communication (with the UCSF-MAC or anyone else) should use subject ID numbers, never names.
2. All investigators must abide by the Committee on Human Research and HIPAA guidelines regarding the securing of subject names. In the CHR application, indicate how you will preserve confidentiality; your approval is dependent on this.
3. Deviations from the use of UCSF-MAC assigned subject ID numbers must first be discussed with the Data Management and Biostatistics Core (Joe Hesse or Leslie Ross). Such deviations create an inability to pair individual project's data with UCSF-MAC Core data.

Investigator orientation to use of UCSF-MAC subjects
Before any testing with UCSF-MAC subjects can begin, the investigator and any research assistant who may be in contact with subjects will receive an orientation to procedures for contact and interaction with subjects. This orientation includes how they will receive subject information, the "dos and don’ts" of scheduling and testing UCSF-MAC subjects, reporting weekly schedules, etc.

Animal Studies approvals
Studies using animal subjects in conjunction or association with UCSF-MAC investigations must obtain approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of UCSF. A copy of the approval must be sent to the UCSF-MAC.

Data Sharing

1. Data from the UCSF-MAC research projects "belong" to the individual investigators, but the principle of data sharing is endorsed. Such sharing requires mutual trust and cooperation.
2. Data from the UCSF-MAC Cores should be easily available to all UCSF-MAC investigators. When data from a Core are to be used by an investigator not in that Core, the Core Leader should be informed, the contribution of the Core should be acknowledged in resulting publications, and co-authorship from the Core should be considered when appropriate by reason of intellectual contribution. If there are concerns or ambiguous situations, contact Rosalie Gearhart at (415) 476-5570.

Time Limitation
Unless approved for a longer period of time, all requests are "active" for a maximum of 18 months or until the number of approved samples have been provided, whichever comes first.

Submit a UCSF-MAC Resource Request
Use this online form to submit your request.

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