Biorepository

Director: Nam Tran, Ph.D. 

The mission of the UC Davis Pathology Biorepository Shared Resource, or BRSR, is to provide high quality, well-characterized cancer-related human tissue specimens and biological materials to collaborators. 

The specific objectives of the Biorepository Shared Resource are:

• To procure, prepare and preserve malignant, benign, and normal human specimens in a centralized repository
• To provide high quality annotated data (pathological and clinical) using a secure and interactive database system
• To facilitate compliance with all mandated regulatory processes (IRB, HIPAA, SRC) thereby promoting ethical research by UC Davis researchers
• To provide pathologic consultation to investigators using human specimens for scientific correlation
• To efficiently prioritize, disperse and track specimens via a rapid and standardized approval and monitoring process
• To provide TMA consultation and services for comprehensive cancer center investigators and their collaborators

This facility offers several advantages over other national specimen repositories. They include:

• Specimens are processed according to researcher specifications
• Convenient location at UC Davis Medical Center
• Surgical pathologists oversee tissue procurement
• De-identified clinical information is available
• Investigators, surgeons, clinicians, oncologists and surgical pathologists have opportunities for collaboration

Skilled personnel work with surgeons, pathologists, and researchers to maximize the scientific value of the acquired tissue without compromising diagnostic processing. The pathologist leader oversees designation of diagnostic histologic sections so investigators can correlate pathologic features with their data. In addition, the BRSR provides investigators access to histopathologic parameters available from the final diagnostic report while preserving individual patient confidentiality.