Jul 20 2010
BioServe and the Windber Research Institute (WRI) announced today the formation of an exclusive strategic alliance that will help put high quality tissue samples into the hands of biomedical researchers worldwide.
Through this agreement BioServe will supplement its clinical-grade biomaterial in its Global BioRepository with biosamples from WRI's Tissue Bank. The tissue bank at Windber contains a variety of biomaterial, which includes a host of cancer specimens as well as non-diseased tissues.
WRI joins a growing list of partners in BioServe's biospecimen network, which now includes Fox Chase Cancer Center, The Fairbanks Institute and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. By accessing this unique and rich resource of biomaterial, researchers can attain the highest quality biosamples from most any major disease.
"In the biobanking community WRI is known to have some of the highest quality, data rich samples to offer. By offering these samples through BioServe's distribution channels WRI will now be able to aid a much larger community of biomedical researchers," said Rama Modali, President of BioServe.
WRI acquires and banks large numbers of high quality and well annotated normal and diseased tissue specimens, which are also accompanied by blood from each donor. The range of biospecimens includes plasma, serum, tissue embedded in optimum cutting temperature (OCT), as well as formalin-fixed paraffin embedded and flash frozen tissue samples.
Windber Research Institute's samples are obtained from fully informed and consented donors using Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved protocols and are accompanied by detailed clinical, family history and demographic information. The tissue bank has established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for tissue acquisition, handling, processing, packaging and shipping. All collaborators at participating clinics/medical centers utilize these procedures to ensure that the integrity of the specimen is maintained.
"BioServe's Global BioRepository is one of the world's preeminent industrial-scale biobanks. By partnering with BioServe, our samples can now reach many more researchers to help them better understand the mechanisms of disease and the development of new discoveries and therapies," said Stella Somiari, PhD, Senior Director of the Tissue Bank at WRI.
Tom Kurtz, President and CEO of Windber Research Institute added, "We are very excited about this relationship and we feel confident that our long standing experience in the tissue banking field will lead to other areas of collaboration with BioServe."