The Tumor Tissue and Biospecimen Bank (TTAB) Facility is a biorepository which provides a full range of services for Researchers involved in biospecimen research.

These include full service for the Investigator who wishes to bank their collection on-site or off (connected by a virtual data repository) or individual services for the Investigator wishing to support/enhance their biospecimen collection and research efforts.

Please note: All services need to be prearranged with the Facility so that TTAB can ideally support prospective procurement and distribution needs and is able to coordinate services within the necessary and appropriate timelines.

The facility operates between 8:30 am and 4:30 am daily Monday through Friday.

Biospecimen Collection

This Fee covers all costs involved with collecting, processing/preparing the biospecimen for short or long-term storage. Biospecimen collection fees vary per type of biospecimen. Please refer to Fee schedule for prices. Biospecimen collection fees can be reduced when the user hand delivers the biospecimen to the bank. Please note that the bank must be aware of the delivery. Biospecimen drop-off may be made between 8:30 and 4:30 pm Monday to Friday. Arrangements for biospecimen drop-off should be made at least a day in advance.

Biospecimen Distribution

This Fee covers all costs involved with retrieving, processing/preparing the average biospecimen for pick-up. Please note this fee does not cover special distribution needs or delivery. Biospecimen Distribution is on an appointment only basis between 8:30 and 4:30 pm Monday through Friday. Arrangements should be made at least two days in advance. For pick-up of specimens in bulk (>5 specimens) arrangements should be made at least a week in advance.

Special Requests

Fresh Tissue
TTAB is a biospecimen repository that also offers prospective procurement services for immediate pickup for biospecimens, including fresh tissue. The fee for fresh tissue covers all costs to collect, prepare, cut and distribute larger tissue sections, unstained. This is for the researcher for is interested in doing immediate research once the tissue specimen is collected. The Researcher or their staff will need to make arrangements to be available for pick-up immediately following collection by TTAB. Arrangements should be made at least a day in advance.

Frozen Slides
This fee covers all costs involved with preparation and distribution of frozen slide, unstained. Frozen slides may be ordered sterile or non-sterile. Sterile preparation includes using a sterilized microtome, knife/blade and area and fees are more expensive to reflect the time and materials involved. Please refer to the fee schedule for prices.

Specimen Delivery
This fee is based on an hourly cost for the labor involved with delivering a specimen To a location that is within 10 minutes walking distance away (20 minutes total trip). Please not that all deliveries need to be prearranged and delivery is not a standard service. Delivery is only possible on a case by case basis and is based on staffing availability and requires approval of the Technical Director.

TTAB offers hourly rates for technical support for various services based on the direct and/or administrative labor involved. Those interested should contact TTAB to make arrangements. Technical support needs to be prearranged and is available based on staffing and TTAB workload.

Direct Labor pertains to the services involved with biospecimen collection, dissection, processing and distribution and histology cutting services.

Administrative Labor pertains to the services involved with inventorying and cataloging off-site banks, database management, quality management, consenting, training and continuing education.

Pathology MD Case Review is also offered by the hour (see fee schedule for rate) This includes histology case/slide review, case and block selection and quality control. The Director and Technical Director are available for Consultation by the hour to discuss various needs including overall and specific service needs, project feasibility, design and troubleshooting/logistics. Initial consultation (first three hours of meetings and/or follow-up) is offered at no cost to Abramson Cancer Center Members and Pathology Faculty. Extended Consultation is available at the discounted hourly rate (discount of 10%). Please refer to the access policy page regarding TTAB's position on consultation. Consultations need to be arranged by appointment.

TTAB plans to offer the following Histology services from Research Blocks: embedding and cutting of paraffin blocks for stained or unstained and H&E 5 micron slides or 20-50 micron paraffin sections, stained or unstained. Based on current staffing, these services are not currently offered but will be in the near future. All Histology services have an average 2 week turn around time. Rush orders are not possible.

5 micron slides
Each fee covers all costs involved to prepare and distribute one 5 μ slide, unstained, stained or H&E. Slides may be ordered sterile or non-sterile. Sterile preparation includes using a sterilized microtome, knife/blade and area; fees reflect the time and materials involved. Fees may be reduced when orders are batched. Please refer to the fee schedule for prices.

20-50 micron paraffin sections
This fee covers all costs involved with preparation and distribution of thick sections (7-50 μ) for special tests. Paraffin sections may be ordered sterile or non-sterile. Sterile preparation includes using a sterilized microtome, knife/blade and area; fees reflect the time and materials involved.

Block embedding
This fee covers the time and materials involved in making a block from a research specimen. Blocks may be made and stored on site or off. There is a fee for immediate distribution of a block as well as a fee for delayed distribution (at a later date). With delayed distribution, distribution is charged at the time the block is distributed as a separate fee at a small cost.