How Samples are Collected

Pre-surgical blood is preferred; however it is collected at the convenience of the participant often at the same time as clinical blood work. It is then processed by separating it into blood derivatives such as  serum,  plasma, red blood cells and buffy coats and stored at -80⁰C. Urine and saliva may also be collected from some participants. 

The Tumor Bank has recently started collecting paraffin embedded formalin fixed (FFPE) tissue blocks.

Tissue samples from surgery, not required for diagnosis, are collected in local area hospitals and are snap frozen in liquid nitrogen, ideally within 20 minutes of devitalization.

• Pathology lab staff place barcoded vials of tissue samples in liquid nitrogen dewars that are distributed in pathology suites.
• Samples are transported from Pathology Labs to the Tumor Bank Lab for storage in liquid nitrogen cryofreezers or in -80⁰C ultra low freezers.
• The barcoded samples are scanned into our inventory control system.
• Pathologists complete a Quality Assurance form on each tissue donation.
• Samples are held for a minimum of 6 months after donation in case they need to be returned to the pathologist for additional interpretation.
• The samples are annotated with relevant clinical data.
• All samples and data are stored securely and de-identified for release to researchers.