BIOREPOSITORY & TISSUE ANALYSIS SHARED RESOURCE: SUMMARY The Hollings Cancer Center (HCC) Biorepository & Tissue Analysis (BTA) Shared Resource provides investi- gators with access to meticulously collected and annotated human specimens as well as advanced human and animal tissue analyses that require state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise. The shared resource com- prises several integrated services such as a biospecimen and data repository; customized and readily availa- ble tissue microarrays; RNA and DNA extractions; research pathology services, including histologic analysis of fixed, frozen, and stained tissues; and analysis of experimental results. The BTA partners with the Lipidomics Shared Resource to introduce novel technologies for spatially profiling and imaging proteins, lipids, and gly- cans in patient tumor tissues. By linking histopathology to the characterization of lipid, sugar, and protein ex- pression in tissues of clinical interest, the BTA opens the opportunity for HCC investigators to revolutionize tu- mor tissue analysis and identify previously unrecognized therapeutic avenues. Since 2013, the BTA has collected more than 26,500 cancer-associated biospecimens from patients with solid tumors and hematological malignancies, all of which are annotated and linked to clinical data. A notable fea- ture of the BTA is its ability to tailor the accrual of specimens to meet specific needs of HCC investigators. Cur- rently, 25% of BTA tissue donors are African American patients, who are typically underrepresented in biore- positories and in cancer research. During the current funding period, the BTA supported the research of 49 HCC investigators, resulting in 30 publications and 20 funded grant applications. The BTA has made impactful contributions to advance cancer research at HCC, including the identification of specimens from underserved patients with Sea Island ancestry and the use of MALDI imaging to study protein glycosylation patterns in can- cer. In addition to serving a growing group of HCC investigators, the BTA contributes to major national biore- pository efforts, including the NCI-funded Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) Repository, the NCI-funded Coop- erative Human Tissue Network, and the DOD-funded multi-center NCORP Racially and Ethnically Diverse Early Onset Repository. Under the leadership of Steven L. Carroll, MD, PhD, an expert in the autosomal domi- nant tumor susceptibility syndrome neurofibromatosis type 1, the BTA has become an ethnically rich and di- verse tumor tissue biorepository that serves as an important scientific resource for HCC investigators inter- ested in linking basic biology findings to the prevention, clinical diagnosis, and treatment of human cancer.
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