BSD HomeUCMC HomeDirectories

 

Quick Links

• Scheduler
• Department of Pathology
• HTRC Staff Manuals
• Office of Shared Research Facilities (OSRF)
• Cancer Research Center (UCCRC)
• General Clinical Research Centers (GCRC)
• Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• eSphere

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Biospecimen Banking

Biospecimen Procurement

Overview	Collection Protocols	Biospecimen Procurement	Storage	Data abstraction	Distribution

The HTRC has developed a mechanism to acquire tissue specimens in the surgical pathology suites within minutes of removal from the patient. Our currently IRB-approved protocols (over 70) focus on prospective tissue collection of consented and non-consented patients. After carefully processing the portion of the tumor required for diagnosis, the usually “discarded” samples are banked. Personnel in Surgical Pathology are available to acquire, describe, and dissect the remaining tissue. Tissue can be OCT frozen, snap frozen in liquid nitrogen vapors, formalin fixed paraffin embedded or preserved in media (Image). The HTRC also processes bodily fluids including serum, plasma, and saliva. Each sample is bar coded, annotated, and stored according to standardized operating procedures. All specimen and sample information is entered into the specimen management database eSphere.

The standard protocol for biospecimen collection for solid tissue is as follows:

1. The specimen is received in surgical pathology from the operating room.
2. The specimen is accessioned.
3. After the specimen has been accessioned, the resident and/or pathologist assistant will examine and triage the specimen in the appropriate manner before tissue may be removed for banking or research purposes.
4. At this point the resident and/or pathologists’ assistant will determine if there is potential bankable tissue that will NOT compromise the patient’s diagnosis.
5. Bankable samples are weighed and measured. Tissue can be banked as Frozen in OCT, Snap frozen or Paraffin embedded formalin fixed. The tissue is recorded as grossly Tumor, Diseased, Normal or Unknown (Image).

*Prioritization of a subject’s diagnosis precedes any specimen collection for research.

The standard protocol for biospecimen collection for body fluids is as follows:

1. The specimen is received in surgical pathology from various sites (operating rooms, outpatient clinics, laboratories).
2. The sample may be centrifuged, aliquoted, and frozen depending on protocol requirements.

Next