The goal of the Pathology Core is to facilitate the histopathologic and molecular analysis of human breast tissues and provide pathology expertise to the PPG Projects. Results derived from human tissue-based studies will allow PPG investigators to extend the findings from pre-clinical investigations to human disease. The PPG Pathology Core has two aims:
Aim 1 : To facilitate the acquisition of human breast tissues for use by PPG investigators;
and Aim 2 : To provide collaborative research pathology expertise to PPG investigators, including advice on characteristics of human breast cancer, immunohistochemistry and other morphologically-directed assays as well as histopathologic evaluation of human and mouse tissues. The PPG Pathology Core supplements the existing Breast Biospecimen Repository that currently serves as the main tissue and pathology resource for the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC) breast cancer research community. The PPG Pathology Core Director, Dr. Deborah Dillon, is a breast and molecular pathologist at Brigham and Women?s Hospital (BWH)/Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) with particular interest in tissue-based evaluation of standard and novel molecular markers. Through the PPG Pathology Core, she will devote effort specifically to the needs of the PPG Projects, providing pathology expertise and support to investigators incorporating human tissue analysis into their studies. The PPG Pathology Core supports pathology collaboration specific to the PPG Projects above and beyond the general tissue and pathology resources available to the DF/HCC breast cancer research community. The Breast Biospecimen Repository and the SPORE in Breast Cancer provide a strong foundation for tissue and data collection, storage and distribution within the larger DF/HCC community, but do not specifically include pathology collaborations with PPG investigators. The budget for the PPG Pathology Core covers the additional effort needed for pathology collaboration, tissue retrieval and analysis specific to the PPG projects.
