Tissue Procurement, Processing Facility and Biorepository

Division Of Basic Sciences - Nci

Investigators

Abstract

The Tissue Processing and Procurement Facility (TPPF) of the Laboratory of Pathology (LP) is staffed by two Pathologists Assistants (PAs for Pathology) and a Technical Laboratory Manager (TLM), who each also supports the General Surgical Pathology, Clinical Operations and Histology services. The TPPF also houses LP's frozen section room and is contiguous to the Clinical Center's Operating Rooms. The connection to the OR allows LP's PAs to support time-sensitive tissue procurement inside the operating room or immediately following collection and delivery to the TPPF. This allows immediate processing and preservation of tissues procured for diagnosis and research. The PAs act as liaisons between OR staff, research teams, and pathology staff by coordinating tissue procurements in the operating room (OR), which entails facilitation of the complex procurements that often involve multiple investigators and multiple protocols simultaneously. PAs work with investigators, identifying what tissues need to be procured, how they are to be stabilized and what protocols allow the tissue procurement to occur, all while preserving the diagnostic integrity of the tissue. The Pas perform or participate in most research tissue procurements, processing and distribution to the research labs. This system allows as many investigators as possible to benefit, all while meeting the standard-of-care for anatomic pathology. During the past fiscal year, TPPF staff processed more than 3,624 specimens to support 1,408 tissue procurements during surgery, which were distributed to more than 250 NIH investigators in 12 ICs, under approximately 250 protocols. PA's also train new clinical residents each year in tissue procurement and frozen sections for intra-operative consults. The WRNMMC tissue bank collection has amassed a repository of frozen and FFPE blocks with associated clinical information that expand upon the research tissue resources available for utilization by NIH investigators. Each request for specimens is reviewed by a Tissue Resource Committee of Pathologists and regulatory administrative staff in LP prior to distribution. Materials acquired from the TRC program were instrumental resources for data comparison and collection leading to publications in peer review journals.