The overall mission of the Tissue Procurement and Processing (TPP) Core is to facilitate access and usage of tissues and services to meet the specialized needs of the diabetes research community to expedite and catalyze innovative diabetes research at UC AMC. This core will establish and expand resources to assist DRC investigators with the acquisition and processing of rodent and human tissue, and specialized cell lines that are broadly required for diabetes research. For the past 20 years, the services provided by the BDC-based facility has provided high quality tissues to BDC investigators. DRC funding would allow us to expand access to all DRC investigators studying the pathogenesis of Type1 (T1D) and Type 2 (T2D) diabetes. In addition, there is increased need for primary human tissue. We have established a centralized facility to facilitate access to human tissues from external sources (University of Alberta, Edmonton; see letter of support), and internally through the UC-AMC Pathology Biorepository/Tissue Distribution Facility (see letter of support). Furthermore, administrative support for the preparation of IRB approval, human exempt protocols and material transfer agreements for these tissues will be available upon request by DRC members. The core will also provide diabetes-related histopathology services, training in basic and specialized sample preparation and processing procedures, and will offer DRC members access to resources such as validated commonly used reagents and equipment. Finally, the TPP Core will provide a cell banking service to distribute validated diabetes-related cell lines to DRC investigators. These services will facilitate individual studies, in addition to promoting collaborations between investigators. Major services to be provided by the TPP core include 1) tissue preparation, including rodent and human islet isolation and processing; 2) procurement of primary human tissues from local, national and international sources; 3) sample processing for histological analysis; 4) validated and optimized reagents, such as antibodies and probes; and 5) validated cell line distribution. These services have been selected based on a campus-wide survey that solicited information from UC AMC diabetes investigators about their research needs. These services have been selected based on a campus-wide survey that solicited information from UC AMC diabetes investigators about their research needs. More than 65% of our DRC membership, which represents >95% of our non-clinical research base indicated their need for tissue procurement and/or processing assistance.
