Over the last five years the CHTN provided 235,710 biospecimens to approved researchers throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as a few internationally. In 2016, the CHTN provided 433 IRB reviewed researchers 49,832 quality samples from consented surgical remnant tissues. 72% of the specimens provided were by the researchers primary CHTN division while the remaining 28% of specimens were provided by the CHTN consortium of medical centers.

Special collections are available from some divisions. The Mid-Atlantic Division has an assortment of available tissue microarrays (TMAs). The Pediatric Division can provides samples from the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) and the Eastern, Midwestern, Southern, and Western Divisions add geographic and ethnic diversity to the samples provided.

All CHTN divisions work within the CHTN consortium and network investigator biospecimen requests if agreeable to the investigator to the other CHTN divisions…

The CHTN mission is to provide prospectively procured biospecimens to scientific investigators with the ability to modify procurement and specimen processing procedures to suit the individual protocol of each investigator. Basic demographic information and clinicopathologic data abstracted from pathology reports are provided to investigators. More detailed clinical annotation may be obtained by arrangement.

Most tissue specimens procured by the CHTN are distributed to investigators as fresh/viable aliquots or snap-frozen. Quality control (QC) for all tissue samples consists of histologic analysis of a paired formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue segment that is examined by a board-certified anatomic pathologist ensuring the delivery of correct tissue type and the elimination of highly necrotic specimens (Fig. A).

For tumor specimens, tumor cellularity, percent stroma and percent necrosis are also recorded (Fig. B). The…

June 23, 2017 at 10AM EDTSponsored by the NIH Data Science Special Interest Group National Library of Medicine

The NIH Data Science Special Interest Group is proud to host the webinar Global Perspective on Biobanking and Access to Samples on Friday June 23, 2017 at 10 am EDT. Biobanking leaders from around the world will discuss the challenges and obstacles in sharing and accessing samples and their associated data. The discussion will also address samples that are scarce and how to overcome challenges associated with obtaining these samples. The online audience will be able to send questions directly to the panelists through the GoToWebinar interface. We hope the webinar will facilitate further discussion on these issues and generate new ideas for possible solution and collaboration.

Panelists include:

Jonathan Pevsner, Professor, at the Dept. of Neurology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Medicine. Presentation…

The revised American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual was recently released with a new staging system for all cancer cases diagnosed on or after January 1, 2018. The 8th edition of the Cancer Staging Manual represents an important step in refining the anatomic staging system traditionally based on primary tumor extent and nodal and distant metastasis (TNM) by including non-anatomic factors in prognostic groupings. While the TNM components remain purely anatomic, many of the staging algorithms in the 8th edition of the Cancer Staging Manual incorporate molecular and serologic factors into new staging systems designed to reflect the current state of medical knowledge and the natural history and prognosis of cancers. Some of the noteworthy advances in this edition include:

The incorporation of human papilloma virus (HPV)…

The Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) and the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) are closely linked. For example, Dee McGarvey, CHTN Eastern Division Coordinator, prepared two ISBER webinars on Best Practices, one on Safety and another on Specimen Collection and Processing.

Members of the CHTN divisions are participating in several ISBER activities at this week’s 2017 Annual Meeting of ISBER in Toronto, Canada (May 9-12). CHTN members attending and participating in this week’s activities include:

Dee McGarvey, CHTN Eastern Division Coordinator Zack Von Menchhofen, CHTN Eastern Division IT Representative Craig Rumpel, CHTN Mid-Atlantic Division Coordinator Dr. Leona W. Ayers, CHTN Midwestern Division Principal Investigator Randy Mandt, CHTN Midwestern Division Coordinator Dr. William E. Grizzle, CHTN Southern Division Principal Investigator Kathy C. Sexton, CHTN Southern Division…