Tissue and Data Acquisition and Analysis Resource

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Identification of critical changes in gene expression that are responsible for the malignant phenotype has long been the goal of biomedical researchers in the basic and clinical sciences. Much has been learned concerning disease mechanism using model systems (tissue culture and animals) but the translation of findings in model systems to human clinical disease has been less than optimal. The latter is due at least in part to the complexity of human clinical disease which results from the vast number of genes which are active in cellular metabolism and the co-morbidities associated with an individual patient's disease which can alter or bias the phenotype of the disease process. The development of high throughput testing methods such as DMA chip technologies for measuring gene expression, chromosomal hybridization and single nucleotide polymporphisms has in part addressed the issue of biological complexity at the cellular level. However, acquiring clinical co-morbidity and treatment data that is likely to affect patient outcome and may impact changes in cellular metabolism is more difficult as it relies on various manual human recording and reporting systems. The Tissue and Data Acquisition and Analysis Core (TDAAC) has as its goal the acquisition of human specimens and associated clinical and pathologic findings to support translational research of the target disease. To this end it supports an IRB approved protocol "Tissue Acquisition System to Support Cancer Research" (TASSCR) as well as other investigator initiated IRB approved protocols to support specific investigative questions. Because TDAAC is an outgrowth of a multicenter grant that focused on gene expression microarray studies on multiple cancer phenotypes, some samples have associated gene expression data as a part of their annotation. TDAAC faculty and staff support translational research through acquisition of annotated tissue and blood samples under high ethical standards utilizing patient informed consent and treatment of specimens such that the primary purpose of the specimen for patient care is maintained and the quality of the specimen is optimal for biomedical research.