The main goal of this program project is to develop new nucleic acid hybridization technologies, advanced detection methods based on charge couped devices, and automated sample preparation and handling that could be used in an automated workstation to analyze the expression of large numbers of mRNA species, loss of heterozygosity, and specific gene mutations simultaneously, in a single sample of lung tissue. It is crucial to document and quantify the performance of these devices on real clinical specimens. Additionally, the results obtained from these newly developed devices must be comparable to those obtained from conventional methods. Tumor Biology Core (TBC) is responsible for coordinating sample collection, providing precharacterized model tumor panels and uncharacterized tumor panels for the standardization of devices developed in Project 1 and Project 3. The TBC will also identify newly identified genetic alterations n lung cancers as a source of addition potential valuable markers for the Program Project. 1) To establish a tissue bank and keep track of all tissue materials related to the Program Project. 2) To prepare tissue samples for conventional and multi parameter genetic analysis. 3) To analyze genetic alterations in lung cancers using conventional means to provide standards for multi parameter analysis or validate results from the multi parameter analysis. 4) To identify additional genetic alterations and/or changes in mRNA expression which are potentially important in lung tumorigenesis for up-dating probe panels used in the program project.
