Pathology Biorepository

MISSION:

Pathology Biorepository Shared Service (PBSS) provides access to a collection of high quality banked patient samples while maintaining patient confidentiality. PBSS provides pathology, histology, and histotechnology services to assist with procurement, analyses, and clinicopathologic correlations of human tissue specimens. Access to a high-quality bank of patient samples permits UMGCCC investigators to perform studies aimed at understanding the biology of normal and diseased tissues with an ultimate goal of translating this knowledge into diagnostic and clinical applications.

ABOUT PBSS:

Pathology and Biorepository Shared Service was established by UMGCCC in 2006 as a developing core. PBSS has both the unique advantage of the long-standing expertise gained under the well-established relationship with the NCI as well as the advantage of existing expertise and archives of the Pathology Department.

PBSS is the only tissue bank shared service for specimens removed at surgery on the campus.

We have an integrated relationship with the Anatomic Pathology Department, which is essential for obtaining well-characterized tissue samples as well as for pathology and histology expertise.

Frozen tissue archived at PBSS consists of more than 13,000 aliquots of matched tumor and normal tissue from the same patient, and more than 25,000 aliquots of mononuclear cell isolates, plasma and serum.

‌CORE SERVICES:

TISSUE PROCUREMENT AND PROCESSING SERVICES

• Fresh or Frozen tissue
• Plasma and serum collection
• Bone marrow and peripheral blood mononuclear cell isolation
• Biospecimen storage and retrieval
• Rapid collection and storage methods
• Project/protocol-specific procurement

TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH SUPPORT

Histology Services

• Tissue processing and embedding
• Sectioning and staining
• Immunohistochemistry (IHC), including antibody work-up and control tissues
• Special Stains
• Tissue Microarray (TMA) Construction

‌Digital Image Analysis Services

• Aperio digital IHC and TMA software
• Quantitative IHC

Data Services

• Association of archived and prospectively collected tissue with clinical data
• Prospectively maintained and queryable database for all collections

Consultation Services

• Pathology consultations
• Interpretation support
• IRB application assistance
• Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) submission support