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Biobanking

The Biobank and Research Pathology Resource collects, stores, manages and distributes biospecimens collected under Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved protocols.

The Core currently houses more than 60,000 specimens. Specimen types in routine collections include:

Tissue
- Frozen
- Fresh for cell isolation
- Cryopreserved for cell culture and xenografts
- Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE)
- Tissue microarray
Blood
- Plasma
- Serum
- Buffy coat
- Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)
Body Fluids
- Cerebrospinal fluid
- Urine
- Others

Custom Biospecimen Collection or Processing Requests

The Biobank and Research Pathology Resource can implement your IRB-approved biospecimen collection and/or processing protocol based on your specifications

Request Examples

Custom biospecimen collection
- Tissue collected from the tumor site, proximal and distal to the tumor
Custom biospecimen processing
- Peripheral blood mononuclear cell isolation
- Bone marrow mononuclear cell isolation
- Sputum cell deposition, immobilization and fixation

For a custom collection or processing request, email the Biobank at groupbiobank@cshs.org.

Prospective Collection of Remnant Tissue and Blood/Body Fluids

The Cedars-Sinai clinical labs process thousands of body fluids a day for patient care. The Biobank and Research Pathology Resource has access to the remnant body fluids of patients who have consented to donate their remnant specimens. Additionally, remnant tissues from surgeries or procedures can be collected from consenting patients. If the biorepository does not already have what you need, the Core can collect specimens prospectively.

For remnant tissue or body fluid collections, email the Biobank at groupbiobank@cshs.org.

Clinical Annotation with Biospecimens

Researchers can request:

Data related to tissue collection, storage and distribution
Pathology report information
Clinical follow-up, disease progression
Clinical follow-up, treatment data

Tissue from Pathology Archive

Research pathologists can search for cases in the pathology department archive to provide FFPE tissue block slide recuts and/or tissue cores, as well as pathology report data.

General Information

Cedars-Sinai affiliated investigators must submit an IRB protocol for expedited review. If not affiliated with Cedars-Sinai, investigators must also execute a Material Transfer Agreement. External investigators must also provide the core with their institutional IRB number.

Trained Biobank and Translational Core staff members are available to help you with IRB submissions.
All biospecimen requests are reviewed by a specimen utilization committee and are prioritized based on scientific merit, funding source and availability.

If you have any questions about submitting IRB protocols for review, contact the Office of Research Compliance & Quality Improvement.

310-423-3783

Email: irb@cshs.org

Storage

The Biobank and Research Pathology Resource houses 30 large LN₂ tanks (with 26 racks each, 13 boxes per rack, 81 samples per box) that are filled automatically, and 25 −80°C freezers (24 racks each, 20 boxes per rack, 81 samples per box). All units are monitored with wireless probes that generate automated notifications when status changes occur.

Rapid Autopsy Program

The Rapid Autopsy Program is a new service of the Biobank and Research Pathology Resource that is initially being implemented for the brain and spinal cord from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. This service will be expanded soon to include brains from Alzheimer's disease patients, as well as for various organs and tissues from control patients with no major pathology or disease. In the future, we plan to expand this service to cancer patients.