Tumor Tissue and Pathology Shared Resource

Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem NC

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

TUMOR TISSUE AND PATHOLOGY SHARED RESOURCE (TTPSR): PROJECT SUMMARY The Tumor Tissue and Pathology Shared Resource (TTPSR) of Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center (WFBCCC) facilitates translational cancer research by: (1) collecting and supplying high quality, well- characterized human and animal tissues (neoplastic and normal) and (2) providing various pathology services to WFBCCC investigators. The TTPSR maintains a repository of patient-derived tumors and matched normal tissues, accompanied by pertinent clinical information, in addition to tissues from other species. It facilitates investigators’ access to available data on tumor and normal tissues, serum, plasma, and white blood cells via the Translational Data Warehouse and Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2), as well as the Shared Resources’ web-based biospecimen management tool, in a regulatory-compliant manner. TTPSR also assists investigators with the customized collection of fresh human and animal t issue samples for prospective translational research projects. TTPSR includes the Tumor Procurement Lab (TPL), the Human Pathology Lab (HPL), the Comparative Pathology Lab (CPL), and the Organoid Processing Lab (OPL). HPL works closely with TPL for quality control of samples and provides clinical pathology expertise to investigators. CPL provides unique samples and pathology expertise for a variety of experimental animals ranging from rodents to non -human primates. OPL is a newly added lab to TTPSR, which is a collaborative entity with the Wake Forest Organoid Research Center. OPL focuses on the formation of 3D patient-specific tumor organoids and applying them translationally, with the goal of informing personalized cancer treatments as well as research and development of new therapies. All four laboratories comprising TTPSR have one centralized reception point for seamless operations and they are equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation overseen by trained staff. TTPSR provides high quality tissue samples with a stringent quality control process by a certified pathologist.It maintains a formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue bank dedicated for research use. In addition, TTPSR provides investigators with both pre-made tissue microarrays (TMAs) of various tissue types, as well as custom-made TMAs for specific research questions. TTPSR also provides automated tissue dissociation in collaboration with the Cancer Genomics Shared Resource for single cell RNAseq, to help investigators answer inquiries into the cell type makeup of the tumor microenvironment. New services include collection of pediatric cases, and production of TMAs and organoids. The TTPSR leadership consists of Edward Levine, MD, Director, and his highly qualified team: Gregory Kucera, PhD Faculty Manager, (TPL) and the leaders of the three TTPSR Labs, Wencheng Li, MD, Faculty Manager (HPL), David Caudell, DVM, PhD, Faculty Manager (CPL), and Konstantinos Votanopoulos, MD, PhD, Faculty Manager (OPL). Providing key services and data to 16 funded projects, a total of 84 Cancer Center investigators utilized the services of TTPSR over the project period – over a 6-fold increase from the prior reporting period, in which 13 members were served. Thus far in the funding period, 39 peer-reviewed manuscripts acknowledged TTPSR support.