Biosample Repository Facility

Research Inst Of Fox Chase Can Ctr, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT – SHARED RESOURCE: BIOSAMPLE REPOSITORY FACILITY High quality biospecimens are needed to support research discovery, to improve our knowledge of cancer development and progression and to discover new treatment strategies to improve patient outcomes. Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) established biospecimen banking activities in 1987 to coordinate the ethical collection, storage, annotation and distribution of tissue and peripheral blood samples to support translational research. The Biosample Repository Facility (BRF) is a centralized shared resource that operates under the direction of Denise Connolly, PhD (CSM). The BRF is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) Biorepository Accreditation Program and was rated ‘Outstanding’ at the CCSG last review. The BRF is advised by an inter-programmatic Facility Advisory Committee (FAC) and Facility Parent Oversight Committee (FPOC). Working in collaboration with pathologists, medical oncologists, surgeons and other hospital personnel, the primary functions of the BRF are to: 1) identify participants and obtain informed consent; 2) collect, process and bank blood, tissue, urine, saliva/cheek swab and malignant effusion specimens; and 3) obtain associated clinical information including patient demographics, pathology, genetic alterations, treatment interventions (surgery, drug treatments, radiation, etc.), outcomes and self-reported personal and family histories of cancer and lifestyle factors for use in research. The BRF staff assist research investigators with selection of appropriate biospecimens and associated data for individual research projects and help navigate regulatory requirements for project approval. The BRF also provides support for specimen collection, processing and/or storage for specialized research programs (e.g., the Risk Assessment Program (RAP)) and for individual investigator- initiated research studies. Additional technical support is provided for tissue-based research studies including custom tissue microarray (TMA) construction and automated image analysis of biomarker expression. Biospecimens from >62,600 participants have been collected and housed in the BRF, including >78,300 blood specimens and >20,275 tissue specimens from patients with a variety of different cancer types. All specimens are linked to comprehensive clinical databases supported by the Population Studies Facility (PSF) via the Data Warehouse (DW). Annual accruals for new tissue and blood specimens are approximately 1,000 and 3,000, respectively. Recent expansion of the BRF includes recruitment of non-surgical cancer patients seen at the Health Science Campus (HSC) and the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit at Jeanes Hospital. The institution invested $97K during this cycle to create a second dedicated centralized freezer farm with electronic temperature monitoring and emergency backup power. The BRF serviced 43 FCCC members during this cycle (2019-2023 (October)) from all three Research Programs and supported 67 publications. For the 12 months ending 10/31/23, 31 FCCC members utilized the BRF with 87% of the usage for services in support of peer-review funded research.