The goal of the Human Tissue Acquisition and Pathology Shared Resource (HTAP) is to provide human tissue samples and histology services to support translafional and preclinical aspects of cancer research. This resource has been in operation since 1993; at the last competitive renewal, this shared resource received an 'Outstanding' rating. HTAP provides researchers with access to a wide variety of human specimens and fissues. HTAP's objectives are to collect, process, bank, and distribute remnant human tissues (both normal and neoplastic) from routine surgical resections and autopsies for use by peer-reviewed and funded Vanderbilt-lngram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators in basic, clinical, and translafional research studies. This includes providing the highest quality, well-characterized fresh, frozen, and fixed tissues suitable for a wide range of molecular, biochemical, and tissue analyses. HTAP will also assist with the collection and banking of biopsy material for specific cancer-related clinical trials and other projects and will perform quality control to ensure that the relevant tissue is supplied to the researcher, and that fissues are suitable for the planned research (e.g., not necrofic or involved by unsuspected disease processes). HTAP is well situated in regards to space and equipment. Services highly utilized by VICC investigators and only provided by HTAP include laser capture microscopy, tissue array construction and image analysis. This shared resource is of critical importance for the translational work of VICC invesfigators. Mary Zutter, M.D., Professor of Pathology and Cancer Biology and Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, became scientific director in May 2009. Dr. Zutter directs a research laboratory that focuses on the role of cell adhesion molecules in host-tumor interactions. She has been funded continuously by the NIH for the past 17 years and is currently supported by three R01 grants from the NCI. In addition, she is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and directs the Division of Hematopathology. She is assisted by a staff with decades of experience and by the Informafics Shared Resource, under the direction of Dan Masys, M.D.
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