Pathology Core Facility Shared Resource

Northwestern University At Chicago, Evanston IL

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT – PATHOLOGY CORE FACILITY The Pathology Core Facility (PCF) in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCC) is a centralized, comprehensive facility that provides expertise in pathology and human tissue-based studies and is specifically dedicated to support the needs of the Lurie Cancer Center research community. The PCF provides access to high quality patient-derived biospecimens, routine histology laboratory tools and pathologic expertise to support basic and translational research and clinical trials. Each year, the PCF serves approximately 500 cancer research studies and clinical trials. In the last five years it has contributed to 253 scientific publications and 30 grant applications, including NCI-funded grants such as the SPORE in Prostate Cancer (P50 CA180995), the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Center (U54 CA119341) and the Epigenomics Consortium for HIV-Associated Cancers (U54 CA221205). The PCF maintains rigorous standard operating procedures, laboratory methods, and technologies that ensure the highest quality services for a variety of established and emerging applications. The PCF is functionally divided into three units: the Core Lab, the Biorepository, and the Clinical Trials Unit. The Core Lab is accredited by the CAP (College of American Pathologists), and conducts all tasks in routine histology, immunohistochemistry for cancer biomarker development and digital pathology, and CLIA-compliant molecular work in DNA and RNA isolation from blood products and tissues. The Biorepository division procures, processes, stores and distributes well-characterized neoplastic and benign human tissues, blood products, and other body fluids from patients who have signed an IRB-approved consent. In addition, there is an organized systematic effort for generalized procurement and storage of most common solid cancers and hematologic malignancies, following NCI Best Practices for Biospecimen Resources guidelines. The Biorepository has developed detailed sample annotation, including pre-analytic variables, frozen section evaluation, specimen tracking, and quality controlled collection procedures, ensuring that clinically meaningful and reproducible data emerge from investigations that use PCF samples. The associated biorepository database is centralized and was created in collaboration with the Cancer Center’s Quantitative Data Sciences Core for easy access by investigators. The PCF-Clinical Trials Unit (PCF-CTU) consults with PIs and reviews all clinical protocols that involve collection of human tissue specimens. Their major responsibility is the procurement and processing of biospecimens for investigator-initiated clinical trials, industry-based clinical trials, and trials supported by a contract from the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention, as required per IRB approved protocols.