The goal of this core is to provide investigators in the SPORE high quality patient data, DNA, RNA, serum, and pancreas tissues from consented pancreatic cancer patients and to make these resources available for future studies. The activities of the CORE will be conducted in a way that does not compromise patient confidentiality, yet will be as comprehensive as possible (within its scope) in the materials that are provided. The acquisition of human tissue and subsequent cellular/molecular analysis of that tissue within the context of patient data are key to many laboratory-based studies of cancer. The Mayo Clinic has a strong tradition of tissue acquisition and patient data records. Paraffin embedded tissues, histological slides, and associated patient charts from surgeries performed since the first decade of the 1900's are maintained in Mayo's Tissue Registry and the Mayo Archives. Today, the Tissue Acquisition and Cellular/Molecular Analysis (TACMA) Shared Resource of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center provides normal and neoplastic human tissues for cancer research at Mayo, and is a resource of expertise, collaborative support, and service for pathology, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, laser capture microdissection, tissue microarray preparation, and RT-PCR. The Patient Registry and Biospecimens Core of this SPORE will be integrated with the existing TACMA Shared Resource in order to provide a coordinated, centralized, dedicated program for procuring, processing, and assessing biospecimens and patient data from pancreatic cancer patients. To achieve our goals, we have assembled a clinical research team of experts in pancreatic cancer, consisting of Drs. S. Chari (gastroenterologist), M. Farnell (GI surgeon), R. Goldberg (medical oncologist), G. Kim (oncologist, Jacksonville), G. Petersen (epidemiologist), L. Miller (GI research, Scottsdale), and M. Sarr (GI surgeon), to support the activities of the Patient Registry and Biospecimens Core under the combined leadership of Dr. W. Lingle, Co-Director of the TACMA Shared Resource of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, and Dr. T. Smyrk, anatomic pathologist. The Patient Registry and Biospecimens Core activities will be closely coordinated with the Animal Models and Xenograft Core, to deliver tissue of highest quality for xenograft culture, and with the Biostatistics Core, for data management and analyses. We will install new infrastructures at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale and Mayo Clinic Jacksonville to recruit pancreatic cancer patients and their biospecimens into a unified registry under this Core.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 52 publications
