Tissue Procurement Facility

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The overall objective of the Tissue Procurement Facility (TPF) is to procure and provide needed tissue specimens to Stanford University Cancer Center investigators to support their cancer-related research. TPF activities and services include collecting and banking freshly-frozen tumor and normal tissues from excess surgical material and from autopsy, providing fresh tumor tissue for viable cell studies, processing and banking serum specimens from cancer patients, maintaining a tissue database with links to clinicopathological data, providing histological staining and pathological review, and coordinating patient consent and assuring regulatory compliance. As a centralized Shared Resource, the TPF adds value through experience, efficiency, standardization, accountability, protection of patient confidentially, and timely completion of research. An advisory board provides recommendations on facility policies and activities, and performs scientific and logistical review of service requests. In FY2005 the TPF, and satellite repositories, have provided tissue specimens to Cancer Center members representing 8 out of 10 Programs. Highlights of the research supported by the Facility include the discovery of clinically-relevant gene-expression subtypes of breast and prostate cancers. The TPF also provides a portal to a "virtual bank" linking inventories of specialized "satellite" repositories, including collections of hematological and neurosurgical specimens. Future plans include an expansion of universal-consent based tissue procurement, increased efforts to bank both paraffin tissue blocks and viable cells, and more detailed clinical annotation of tissue specimens.