Translational Pathology Core

The Translational Pathology Shared Resource Core (TPSRC) provides collaborative and fee-for-service support to enhance basic and translational research efforts for Meharry Medical College (MMC), Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), and Tennessee State University (TSU) investigators. The TPSRC integrates the Human Tissue Acquisition, Histology/Immunohistochemical/Histopathology, and Morphology Cores, centrally located at MMC to provide a comprehensive suite of continually expanding high-quality services including human cancer research tissue banking and distribution, human and animal tissue processing, sectioning, routine and special staining, immune-based cell antigen staining, mRNA and DNA in-situ localization, histological and histopathological review and interpretation, and a variety of state of the art imaging capabilities. The collection of well-characterized human tissue for correlative research and molecular biology studies is a critical part of cancer research and is the foundation for the development of effective translational medical research and personalized molecular diagnostics and treatment. The TPSRC works collaboratively with the research community and designs, implements, and validates new Core approaches and services. To facilitate integration with the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource Core, MMC provides an on-campus office for in-house consultation purposes for investigators who routinely utilize the TPSRC. Our collaboration with the Community Outreach Core in an advocacy and educational role enhances awareness of research efforts to eliminate cancer in the community. The TPSRC will work closely with the Population Research And Clinical Trials In CancEr (PRACTICE) Shared Resource Core for biospecimen collection. As part of our core’s mission, we support the mentorship of graduate and post-doctoral students.