As medicine charts new technological frontiers, such as bioinformatics,
translational medicine and targeted therapies, notions of Tissue and Biospecimen Banking are
rapidly evolving. Biobanking is on the forefront, allowing researchers to
utilize resources such as paraffin-archives. Biospecimen Repositories will ultimately
function as cores for discovery of information essential to improving patient
care. In a combined effort the Abramson Cancer Center and the Department of
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine have a shared vision that will provide
investigators the resources and organizational capabilities to maximize the
potential of using tissue and other biospecimens for basic and translational research. In addition to
undertaking tissue and biospecimen banking, the core will also work to
define data driven standards for tissue and biospecimen banking practices at Penn.
The Tumor Tissue and Biospecimen Bank (TTAB) will create an extensive and robust bio-specimen and
data repository by integrating multidisciplinary efforts of Cancer Center and other University of Pennsylvania Investigators. The
facility will not only bank de-identified bio-specimens, while providing
bioinformatics capabilities. Access will be determined by research protocols.
Investigators banking efforts and data will be unified through a new
sophisticated web-enabled database that is currently being customized.
Investigators will use this database to easily identify and request material,
regardless of physical location.
Main number: 215-615-4744
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