The Biospecimen Repository Core Facility (BRCF) plays a vital role to support translational research by its ethical collection, storage, annotation, and distribution of high quality biospecimens, such as frozen solid tumors of varying histology and bodily fluids (blood, urine, ascites fluids). The BRCF also provides expert histopathology support and combines the expertise of pathologists, translational researchers, and technical personnel to produce a comprehensive and focused approach to support the research activities at the University of Kansas Cancer Center.
The three main functions of the BRCF are:
- Identify participants, obtain informed consent, and collect blood, tissue, urine, saliva, and other biosamples. Preserve the privacy of participants by automatically assigning anonymous barcodes to samples via database system management at the time of collection.
- Collects, processes, and stores samples for future use by researchers here at KUMC and qualified international and national institutions. Collect corresponding personal and family histories of cancer, clinical interventions, and lifestyle factors for use in research
- Provides expert histology technical procedures and pathological evaluation of tissue samples, including tissue processing, sectioning, tissue microarray (TMA) construction and immunohistochemical staining and analyses.