Tissue procurement & processing for molecular analysis

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objectives of this proposal are to continue the efforts of the Mid-Atlantic division to provide users of the Cooperative Human Tissue Network with high quality human tissue and biofluid samples in accordance with the first generation guidelines for NCI-supported biorepositories. Tissue samples are quality controlled by histologic examination, with molecular assessment of biospecimens included in quality control procedures. Informed patient consent will be sought when possible and procedures are in place to anonymize biospecimens as indicated by approved waiver of consent guidelines. Private health information is handled in accordance with Common Rule and HIPAA regulations. To protect subject privacy, all samples are identified only by a code number ("de-identified") and linking codes are maintained in secure databases. Procured tissue specimens are made 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 are offered. Histology-guided macrodissection services are available to investigators who require enriched cell populations. Nucleic acid extraction (RNA and DNA) will be offered for both bulk and macrodissected tissue samples. The CHTN tissue microarray (TMA) initiative, which is predominantly based at the Mid-Atlantic division, will continue to be supported and will be expanded. The ability of our institution to provide annotated data will be enhanced by integrating with a digital clinical data repository at The University of Virginia and with an established tumor registry. During the grant period members of our division will cooperate to integrate local informatic resources with centralized CHTN informatic resources, and to achieve compliance with caBIG, or other NCI-mandated bioinformatic standards. Members of the Mid-Atlantic division will support the overall efforts of the CHTN by participating in coordinating meetings and in marketing efforts at scientific meetings. Improvement of the CHTN will be provided by participating in organizational quality management practices and offering leadership in integrating new technological and bio- informatic advances.