Human tissue samples were collected for the U54 members under their IRBs. This was expanded dramatically in 2004 when the Core received approval from the UIC IRB to serve as a human female reproductive tract tissue bank. An amendment was recently approved which allows us to also collect tissues from Cook County Hospital. Our ability to function as a tissue bank is quite significant as it creates a repository of human reproductive tissues which are difficult if not impossible to obtain on an as needed basis. The tissues are available for use by members of the U54 and other qualified investigators with appropriate IRB approvals. The Core technician constantly monitors the surgical schedule for suitable potential specimens. This is followed up by contacting the surgeons and their staff and collection of the tissue either directly or after examination by surgical pathology. Where appropriate, portions of each sample are fixed in formalin or Bouins, frozen for future preparation of RNA, and frozen in tissue freezing media for the future preparation of cells for culture. Tissue samples have been collected from 67 patients. The successful collection of samples requires a significant effort. In addition, because of the difficulty in anticipating when samples will be available, it is necessary to have a technician with a flexible schedule so that they can process the tissue whenever it becomes available. These tissues have been utilized by Drs. Fazleabas and Nowak in their projects. Dr. Nowak would have had particular difficulty without the services of the Core since access to surgical specimens is very limited at UIUC. It is estimated that the tissue procurement and related tasks accounted for 35% of the Core activities. The Core provided essential tissue culture services for Drs. Bulun, Fazleabas and Gibori. The Core staff were able to reduce the burden of routine maintenance of cell lines and the cryopreservation of cell lines. Over 380 vials of cells have been cryopreserved. In addition, the Core staff took care of requests from investigators at other institutions for specific cell lines which included working with them to complete the necessary Material Transfer Agreements. The Core also expanded cell lines for Drs. Fazleabas and Gibori and provided them with multiple plates of cells 90 times for their experiments. This significantly reduced the time their staff had to devote to these routine matters. Personnel (14) from the labs of Drs. Fazleabas and Gibori received instruction in proper cell culture technique. Training of personnel in the same manner is highly advantageous since everyone will carry out their cell cultures in the same way. The Core also undertook the preparation of primary cell cultures 53 times that were used by Drs. Bulun and Fazleabas. This saved considerable time for the personnel in their laboratories as each person did not have to become proficient in the preparation of primary cell cultures, a task which requires a significant amount of hands on experience. Having the Core prepare the primary cell cultures also provided a consistency in the primary cell cultures which is impossible to achieve when multiple people are performing this task. It is estimated that these tasks accounted for 50% of the Core activities. Another service that the Core provided was to maintain a real time PCR machine, train investigators on its usage, and assist with the analysis of the data. The use of a real time PCR machine was invaluable for the experiments of Drs. Bulun, Fazleabas and Gibori. The Core was able to assist 7 individuals in the operation of the machine and its software, the design of the experiments and the analysis of their results. It is estimated that this accounted for 5% of the Core activities. The Core also worked to facilitate the research of other U54 groups by establishing a database of nonhuman primate reproductive tissues (over 2000 samples) available for sharing by our U54 group. Our database was incorporated into the RTSaR database which is available to all U54 members. This provides a source for reproductive tissue not readily available to most investigators. It is estimated that this accounted for 5% of the Core activities. To enhance the visibility of our U54 within the scientific community a web page for the Center was created. The web page provides information about the projects underway as part of our U54 and updated information on its accomplishments in the way of publications. Links on the page are provided to the other U54 Centers. It is estimated that this accounted for 5% of the Core activities.
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