Tissue procurement and processing for molecular analysis

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DESCRIPTION: (Provided by Applicant) The objectives of this research application are to provide users of the Cooperative Human Tissue Network with high quality human tissue samples and state of the art tissue processing services. Procured tissue specimens will be available in fresh frozen, chemically-fixed, paraffin-embedded and viable form. Options for viable tissue include frozen cell suspensions from mechanically and enzymatically disaggregated solid tissue, frozen cell suspensions of small tissue fragments, frozen cell suspensions of lymphocytes disaggregated from lymph nodes and frozen cell suspensions of viable cells obtained from ascites fluid. In addition to paraffin embedding, histologic sections of paraffin embedded or frozen tissue will be offered. Laser-assisted microdissection will be available to investigators who require small but highly purified cell populations. Nucleic acid extraction (RNA and DNA) will be offered for both bulk and microdissected tissue samples. Tissue microarrays will be constructed of normal and neoplastic human tissue and histologic sections will be offered to investigators who wish to perform efficient screening studies using in situ experimental methodologies. Although all samples will be identified only by a code number ("de-identified") to maintain high ethical research standards, for most studies extensive clinical follow-up data is available for subjects with malignant neoplasms through an established tumor registry. This application will expand the services that the CHTN currently offers by the inclusion of microdissection, tissue microarray and DNA and RNA extraction. These techniques represent the cutting edge technologies in human tissue analysis, and are being used to perform investigations into the genetic and molecular basis of human cancer and of other diseases. This expansion of CHTN services will greatly increase its value to the research community.