The Translational Laboratory Shared Service (TLSS) supports investigators performing drug development in the preclinical and clinical settings at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center (UMGCC). Sen/ices include processing of human clinical trial specimens, developing assays for pharmacodynamic endpoints, assaying novel cancer therapeutics in vitro, and evaluating novel agents aloneor in combination in in vivo cancer models. The TLSS supports both the clinician and basic investigator. For the clinician, the TLSS processes tissue generated from clinical trials, often playing the role of conduit between the clinical trialist and other cores and shared services within UMGCC. Standard operating procedures for processing the material are generated within TLSS and distributed to the necessary personnel involved in administering the clinical trial. In addition, TLSS develops assays to test the functional activity of a novel compound in human tissue from Phase I and Phase l/ll clinical trials. Last, for those clinicians without laboratories of their own, the TLSS provides the opportunity for the clinician to perform basic research or to train residents or interns in laboratory research. A preclinical investigator may choose to utilize TLSS services when the scope of an experiment exceeds the resources available or is outside his or her area of expertise. For example, regarding In vivo work, investigators may prefer to use the TLSS's umbrella animal use protocol (AUP) rather than writing an AUP of their own and processing it through the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Also, TLSS is uniquely set up to screen compounds in multiple cell lines to determine the range, extent, or specificity of efficacy. TLSS personnel meet with both clinicians and basic researchers to discuss experimental designs as well as expected outcomes and appropriate controls. The TLSS is an excellent resource for researchers to use at UMGCC.
The translation of scientific ideas from the bench to the bedside is essential for developing novel anti-cancer agents. Determining the anti-cancer effect of agents In vitro or in vivo is a valuable tool in drug development. Testing the pharmacodynamic effect of a novel drug in the target tissue during a human clinical trial leads to useful information for the clinician.
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