Core A: Biospecimen & Pathology Core

The Biospecimen and Pathology Core (BPC) will establish a biospecimen repository of anal cancer (AC) and cervical cancer (CC) from different population groups that have unique incidence and mortality rates. Through well-established, multi-institutional collaborations between the University of Miami/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Emory University/Winship Cancer Institute, and Morehouse School of Medicine, the BPC of the PeRsonalized Outreach and Multifaceted Interventions for Screening Enhancement (PROMISE) for Anal and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment SPORE will acquire different types of biospecimens to support all PROMISE Projects and anticipated needs of innovative pilot studies proposed as part of the Career Enhancement Program (CEP), the Developmental Research Program (DRP), and outside collaborations. The BPC will enable translational researchers to conduct high impact investigations that will change cancer treatment and outcomes. The key functions of the BPC will be to provide PROMISE investigators with a standardized system for specimen collection, centralized pathology review, processing, storage, tracking, and distribution and will enable access to state-of-the-art laboratory technologies providing expertise in tissue-based assays and biomarker analyses. Comprehensive medical chart abstractions and data harmonization will ensure all biospecimens will be highly annotated with demographic, clinical, and social determinants of health data. Standardized quality control efforts and collaboration with the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core (BBC) will ensure rigor and reproducibility of all analyses. Prioritization of biospecimen usage will be determined by a Biospecimen Utilization Committee that will prioritize access to biospecimens and associated data based on the merit of the proposed translational cancer research. It is expected that the BPC will a) provide rapid and comprehensive expert morphologic assessment of experimental human tissue samples included in the proposed studies; b) produce high-quality, quantitative scoring data amenable to appropriate statistical tests of significance in collaboration with the BBC; c) ensure that all histopathologic analyses are conducted rigorously with appropriate quality assurance measures; d) provide all services in an efficient and cost-effective manner that is not redundant with other in-house resources; and e) ensure that patient biospecimens used for PROMISE SPORE studies are procured directly from the unique patient populations that are routinely cared for in the South Florida and Atlanta catchment areas of these institutions.