Core B: Tissue Procurement and Processing

Project Description: Tissue Procurement and Processing Core B The Tissue Processing and Procurement Core will establish a central resource to procure, process, catalog, and distribute all human tissues for the research projects in this center. This will build upon the ongoing collaborations established by investigators in the Washington University Pain Center. We will obtain human tissues from our local organ procurement organization Mid-America Transplant (DRG, spinal cord, nerve), the National Disease Research Interchange (DRG), and neurosurgical procedures (DRG, nerve) and orthopedic surgery (nerves) at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Bryan Copits will oversee all aspects of this core, which will use this established network of tissue sources, our validated tissue processing procedures, our knowledge of best practices for tissue preservation for all downstream applications in the research projects, and databases for handling de-identified patient medical histories. Tissues will be cataloged and linked to de-identified patient medical history using OpenSpecimen software, and transferred to the Siteman Cancer Center Tissue Procurement Core at Washington University in St Louis to take advantage of their extensive expertise in coordinating tissue storage and distribution. All investigators will have access to these tissue and medical records through OpenSpecimen to easily request samples from this Core. This Core will also coordinate with other U19 Centers in the PRECISION Human Pain Network to establish uniform protocols for human tissue procurement and processing.