Biobank & Biospecimen Research Center
What We Do
The Biobank Shared Resource (BSR) is uniquely positioned at the center of three interrelated stakeholders: researchers, clinicians, and patients. As a central hub, this resource helps to bridge the bench-to-bedside gap by nurturing patient involvement through tissue donation and supporting translational research initiatives. The BSR maintains alignment with community values, Wilmot strategic initiatives, and programmatic research needs to ensure sustainable resource development.
The BSR aims to provide clinicians and researchers access to a diverse catalog of clinically-annotated human tissue samples maintained within the Wilmot Biobank (WBB), as well as study-specific consultation and comprehensive technical support services through the Biospecimen Research Center (BRC). All biobanking and clinical research activities performed by the BSR were developed in accordance with, and strictly adhere to, National Cancer Institute (NCI BBRB) and International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) best practices.
Subject Recruitment
The BSR maintains an RSRB-approved study protocol and consent for biobanking operations and is equipped to enroll up to 500 subjects annually. Collection targets are guided by oversight from our Biobank Advisory Committee for alignment with WCI strategic plan, intraprogrammatic research initiatives, catchment area needs, and community values. Our recruitment staff is fully trained on Epic and commonly works with our clinical partners to identify prospective subjects and obtain informed consent from newly diagnosed Wilmot patients. Following enrollment, minimum-reportable (Biospecimen Reporting for Improved Study Quality, BRISQ) clinicopathologic metadata is aggregated from
Epic, de-identified, and maintained on the WBB Bio-Lab Informatics System (BLIS) database (user access provided upon request).
Demographic Data
- Age group
- Gender
- Race
- BMI
- Toxin exposure(s)
- Neoadjuvant therapy(s)
Disease (Tumor) Data
- Origin
- Classification
- Stage
- Grade
- Diagnosis
Procurement, Processing, and Storage
Wilmot Biobank collection operations are well integrated with several clinical departments including surgery, interventional radiology, and surgical pathology to ensure effective identification, procurement, and expeditious processing of high-value biospecimens. Our facilities and laboratory staff are equipped to support and develop a variety of sample processing and preservation techniques. Preanalytical variables are closely monitored and recorded throughout the collection process and solid tumor tissues are histologically characterized to determine cellular/acellular content. All banked samples are de-identified, annotated with quality/clinicopathologic metadata, inventoried using the LabKey Sample Manager system, and cataloged on our WBB BLIS database.
Instrumentation
- Custom BioGenic Systems V-3000AB with autofill
- Thermo Scientific TSX Series ultralow freezers
- Miltenyi Biotec gentleMACS dissociator
- Beckman Coulter Vi-CELL XR cell viability analyzer
- Thermo Scientific NESLAB RTE-7 circulating bath
- Eppendorf aerosol-tight high-throughput centrifuges
- Leica VT1000 S vibrating blade microtome
- Cryo Bio System Micro-Digitcool controlled-rate freezer
- Brady i3300 barcode printer
- Brady CR2700 barcode scanner
- 10X Genomics Xenium In Situ
- Akoya Biosciences PhenoCycler-Fusion 2.0
Sample Formats
- Fresh tissue
- Cryopreserved tissue (non-viable)
- Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue
- Dissociated tissue (viable single-cell suspensions)
- Serum
- Plasma
- Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)
- Urine sediment