The UI/MC SPORE Biospecimens Core provides a coordinated, centralized, and dedicated Core for the procurement, processing and annotation of biospecimens from lymphoma patients and patients with small lymphocytic lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukemia (SLL/CLL). The goal of the Biospecimens Core is to procure a variety of biologic specimens on all patients involved in UI/MC SPORE protocols and all newly diagnosed lymphoma patients seen at the University of Iowa and the Mayo Clinic Rochester.
The specific aims of the Biospecimens Core are: 1) to collect, process, distribute, and bank cells from fresh tumor, frozen tumor tissue, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue, serum/plasma, and genomic DNAfrom lymphoma and SLL/CLL patients;2) to track all biospecimens in the Biospecimens Tracking Database;and 3) to serve as a resource of expertise, collaborative support (including other NIH grants), and service for projects involving pathology review/classification, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, fluorescent in situ hybridization, laser capture microdissection, tissue arrays, and digital image analysis. All specimens are collected and processed under tight quality control, and distributed to UI/MC SPORE researchers or banked for future SPORE research projects. These activities are tracked using a sophisticated database that merges the activities at Iowa and Mayo, and allow integration with clinical and other data collected in research projects. During the last grant cycle, the Core has consented over 1300 newly diagnosed lymphoma patients and over 350 previously diagnosed lymphoma patients for use of pathology tissues. In most of these patients we have banked serum and DNA, and on over 500 patients we have processed and banked cells from fresh tissue available after clinical work-up. The Core has supported multiple full and developmental projects, as well as Career Development awardees. The Core has also partnered with other projects that have obtained extramural funding to support epidemiologic and family studies, and has provided key infrastructure for the Molecular Epidemiology Resource. In the next grant cycle, we will continue to accrue new patient samples to the bank and work with investigators to utilize this increasingly valuable resource to support translational research projects in lymphoma.
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