Research Services Core
*This shared resource is affiliated with the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.
DIRECTOR
Robert Edwards, Associate Professor of Pathology
email: redwards@uci.edu
phone: 949-824-8576
fax: 949-824-2160
Direct all general questions about the Core, or this website, to Dr. Edwards.
PURPOSE
The objective of the Pathology Research Services Core is to provide UC Irvine researchers with expert assistance in obtaining and analyzing human and animal tissue, blood and serum samples. The core leverages the existing professional expertise and technical resources available in the various clinical laboratories within the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Rob Edwards is the overall Director of the Core. In addition, there is an Associate Director for each of the component services of the Core (listed below).
COMPLIANCE
Since in almost all cases Core services involve the use of tissue derived from either humans or vertebrate animals, investigators will be required to document that research projects have been subjected to either IRB or IACUC review when requesting services. This documentation will include a copy of the appropriate approval letter, which is maintained on file in the Core. Compliance with these institutional policies will be rigorously enforced. Failure to supply the necessary information will result in a delay in the provision of requested services.
Rules governing human subjects research on de-identified specimens is constantly evolving. Use of any tissue from our banks in this manner no longer requires explicit IRB approval. Questions about the process should be directed to Dr. Edwards. To obtain de-identified specimens, investigators must file a REQUEST FOR DETERMINATION OF NON-HUMAN SUBJECT RESEARCH form with the IRB (download this form from http://www.research.uci.edu/ora/forms/ then click on IRB forms.
COST TO INVESTIGATOR
The activities of the core are underwritten in part by funds from the NIH (in the form of the Cancer Center Support Grant (CA62203)) and by the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. Investigators will be recharged for the marginal costs associated with each service. For some services, a specific order form with re-charge rates is employed in other cases recharge rates are determined for individual projects, in consultation with the appropriate Associate Director (see details for each of the component services).
SERVICES OFFERED
The core currently consists of five component services:
Histology and immunohistochemical staining (includes paraffin tissue bank)
Morphometry and image analysis of tissue sections
Laser-capture micro-dissection of tissue sections
Tissue bank and procurement service (TBPS)
Genotyping (includes nucleic acid extraction from blood and tissue sections)
Additional services (such as electron microscopy) may be offered in the future, if demand exists. Please contact Dr. Edwards with additional suggestions.
ACCESS TO HUMAN TISSUE
Use of human tissue samples is, in some instances, limited by the current inventory of the tissue banks. As such it may be necessary to limit the use of some samples. Thus, each request for human tissue will be subject to approval by the Associate Director of the relevant tissue bank (Dr. Phil Carpenter for paraffin-embedded tissue samples and for frozen tissue samples). In general, the appropriate Associate Director will be authorized to approve requests for small numbers of samples of common tumors or normal tissue. Requests for larger numbers of tissue blocks or for rare tumors, etc. will also require approval of the Tissue Use Committee. The committee will not honor indeterminate, open-ended continuing requests, since such requests will tend to exclude the use of the archives by other investigators. The Tissue Use Committee will base their review of each request on the scientific appropriateness of the project, the amount of relevant tissue currently in our archives and the availability of peer-reviewed funding for the project (as well as appropriate IRB approval).
