The primary objective of the Experimental Tissue Shared Resource (ETR) is to provide basic, translational, and clinical researchers within the Cancer Center access to, and analysis of, human and animal tissues. A key advantage is that this Core leverages the technical and professional expertise of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Three services are currently offered: i) tissue histology and immunohistochemistry; ii) tissue banking; and iii) tissue analysis, including laser capture microscopy, morphometry and image quantitation and genotyping services. Since the Core was initiated in the prior funding period, 63 CFCCC Members have used it. There has been growth in use, especially in the histology/immunohistochemistry component, which accounts for the majority of usage within the ETR. In the prior funding period, the histology component has provided high-quality service at below-market recharge rates, with short turn-around times to 52 different CFCCC Members who are mainly pursuing translational research on human cancer specimens or studying rodent models of human cancer. When required, we customized services to meet the special needs of CFCCC Members. These features have made our histology services superior to those available from commercial vendors, contributing to usage growth. ETR services contributed to 43 publications in the prior funding period, including 36 using histology services. Tissue banking services were used by 21 CFCCC investigators. Analytical services, used by 15 investigators, have been particularly valuable to investigators pursuing translational and clinical research projects. In this renewal, we propose to expand to meet an increased demand for histology services, maintain our specialty analytical services, strengthen our tissue procurement activities by focusing on comprehensively banking prostate cancers and provide a new mouse pathology service which will assist CFCCC investigators in the initial characterization of genetically engineered mouse models of human cancer.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter