Effective tissue procurement and utilization is vital for meaningful translational research activities. The Tissue Procurement and Pathology Core will work with each SPORE project and the Biostatistics and Data Management Core to ensure efficient and highly coordinated procurement, use and storage of human tissue samples. The Core will obtain and maintain a repository of tissue samples (including tumor tissue, premalignant tissue, adjacent non-malignant tissue, peripheral blood lymphocytes and surrogate tissues) for laboratory use, with an effective coding system for all laboratory specimens to ensure patient confidentiality and prevent experimental bias. Continuous communication between the surgeons, research nurses, biostatisticians and pathologists, as well as standardized operating procedures for activities will provide for optimal tissue collection and accurate processing, analysis and storage of each sample. Thus, the functions of the Tissue Procurement and Pathology Core are to facilitate acquisition, preservation, analysis and dispersal of clinical samples and to provide histopathologic characterization of tumor tissues for all project investigators. The Tissue Procurement, and Pathology Core has the following objectives: Objective 1. Develop and maintain repository of tissue specimens from patients with head and neck cancer or oral premalignancies receiving care or evaluation at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Objective 2. Provide comprehensive histologic characterization of tissue samples used in SPORE projects, including specimens from patients entered onto clinical protocols; expeditiously distribute tissue specimens to SPORE investigators for analysis and provide expertise in the interpretation of studies performed on tissue sections within SPORE projects; Objective 3. Offer centralized services, including immunohistochemical characterization of biomarkers, manual and laser capture microdissection, tissue array design and construction, flow cytometry and cell sorting, and provision and utilization of specialized DNA arrays; Objective 4. Maintain a comprehensive, prospective interactive database with detailed clinical and pathologic data for patients with head and neck cancer or oral premalignancies receiving care or evaluation at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Objective 5. Facilitate inter-SPORE collaborations through sharing of tissue resources.
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