• About
  • Mission & Vision
  • Team
  • Strategic Plan
  • Global Action Agenda
  • Seattle Children's
  • Privacy and Terms of Use
• Projects
  • GAPPS Research
  • Harmonization
  • Interventions
  • Advocacy
  • Ethics
• Research
  • Our research approach
  • GAPPS Repository
  • Harmonization
  • Ethics Research
  • Preventing Preterm Birth Initiative
• Advocacy
  • Understand the Problem
  • Set Priorities
  • Close the Gaps
  • Make A Difference
• Resources
  • Issues and GAPPS FAQs
  • Advocacy Toolkit
  • For Parents
  • Media Center
  • Publications & Reports

GAPPS Repository Collection Network

The Collection Network

In collaboration with Seattle Children’s Research Institute, GAPPS is building a network of collection sites to provide researchers with specimens from wide-ranging, diverse populations. Launched at sites in Washington and California, this network provides data and specimens to the GAPPS Repository, the largest ever standardized collection of prenatal specimens linked to data.

Revolutionizing the field of pregnancy research, the collection makes it possible for researchers to pursue studies to identify biomarkers in women at risk for preterm and stillbirth; create pregnancy screening tools; and translate scientific discoveries into pioneering diagnostic, treatment and prevention strategies.

GAPPS is continually evaluating and adding new collection sites. GAPPS Repository Collection Network sites currently include:

Loma Linda University Medical Center
Loma Linda University Medical Center is located in the San Bernardino Valley east of Los Angeles, California.  LLUMC records nearly 3,000 births annually. Half of these mothers are white, with Hispanic, African American and Asian women composing the remaining half.

Swedish Medical Center
Swedish Medical Center has two birthing centers in Seattle — one located downtown with approximately 6,600 births a year, the second in the Ballard neighborhood recording more than 700 births annually.  Mothers delivering at Swedish represent racially diverse backgrounds including white, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic.

University of Washington Medical Center
More than 2,000 births are recorded annually at this medical center located on the university campus in Seattle. Mothers delivering here represent racially diverse backgrounds including white, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander and Hispanic.

Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital
Located in Central Washington, Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital records around 3,000 births a year; nearly half of these mothers are of Hispanic origin.

Potential for Global Network
The initial collection sites serve as models for expanding research capacity internationally in regions with the highest rates of prematurity, stillbirth, and maternal and neonatal death: South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. GAPPS is working with healthcare providers and researchers in these areas to lay the groundwork for new collection sites.

Synchronized Protocols
To ensure consistent, accurate data, Repository protocol is standard for all GAPPS Repository Collection Network sites. The GAPPS Repository team analyzes electronic data sent from the collection sites.

Protecting Participant Privacy
GAPPS maintains the highest standards of privacy and confidentiality. Specimens and data are identified only by number, with participant names kept in protected files at each collection site.