Research Pathology

The overall goal of Research Pathology Shared Resources (RP-SR) is to provide COHCCC Members with access to high-quality, timely, and cost-effective pathology services that directly support a broad range of  studies and access to human biorepository collections. RP-SR comprises the Solid Tumor Biorepository (STB) and Hematopoietic Tissue Biorepository (HTB), Research-(Histology, Molecular Pathology, & Cytogenetics); and the Research Pathology Informatics (RPI) resource.

The Biorepository Services include procurement of tissue, blood/derivatives from patients and volunteers, bone marrow (BM) aspirates, buccal cells and skin, and stool (for microbiome studies) and normal donor blood collection protocols. the Biorepository Services collect, de-identify, and process tissues for correlative studies from patients enrolled in clinical trials. HTB services include cryopreservation of viable mononuclear cells, immunophenotype-based cell characterization and enrichment, and isolation and expansion of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells with DNA, RNA, and protein extraction. Specimen tracking is via LabVantage (LV) management system. Histopathology services include expert interpretation and categorization for solid and liquid tumors by specialist pathologists and hematopathologists, immunohistochemistry (IHC) validation, multiplex IHC, and whole slide imaging. The Cytogenetics Laboratory provides cell line characterization, chromosomal microarray analyses, FISH analyses performed on suspensions, FFPE including tissue microarrays, and frozen sections. The Research Molecular Pathology Laboratory provides targeted DNA sequencing and data interpretation, gene expression assays, tissue-based digital spatial profiling, circulating tumor cell isolation , digital PCR, and RNA in situ hybridization services. In conjunction with the Honest Broker group, HTB and RP Informatics provide support for annotation and cohort identification for project requests.