The Pathology and Tissue Core of the Johns Hopkins Lung SPORE program was initiated approximately 14 years ago. The Core activities have evolved over this time period. While the initial emphasis of the Core was to collect frozen tissue samples, services added in response to evolving need of the SPORE include tissue microdissection, collection of specialized samples (lymph nodes, bronchiolaveolar lavage, sputum), expanded data collection and management services, establishing tissue microarrays (TMAs), and pathology consultation for use of human specimens as well as animal models. In addition, the Core has supported the continuous development and refinement of a relational database that provides comprehensive clinical data for all lung cancer patients at the institution in addition to annotation for the pathology specimens in the Core. All of the resources of this Core are leveraged beyond our own SPORE program, as we continue to have active collaborative efforts with investigators at other institutions, including investigators in other SPORE programs. In the past two years, investigators in our program have recognized a need for laboratory models that resemble human lung cancer more closely that do the standard cultured lung cancer cell lines. This prompted the development of a new resource in the Core for establishing transplantable xenografts from clinical samples of human lung cancers. We expect that this resource will contribute significantly to work of investigators throughout the lung cancer research community in coming years, as well as to the projects of our SPORE. Thus, the basic functions of this Core can be summarized as follows: ? Collect, store, and distribute tissues and other biological samples relevant to the study of lung cancer. ? Collect, maintain, and provide access to clinical and pathological data related to all lung cancer patients treated at Johns Hopkins, including those related to these specimens. ? Develop newtransplantable xenograft models of lung cancer from clinical samples ? Provide expert pathologist consultation for molecular studies of human lung cancer and for studies involving rodent models of lung cancer. Relevance to Public Health: This Core provides valuable resources to link laboratory studies to clinical applications.
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