Chen Liu, MD, PhD, Chair of Yale Pathology, is leading an effort at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) to establish an institutional biorepository for the coordinated collection of tissue, plasma, serum, and genetic samples, and clinical data using common processes and information systems.
Liu is leading a task force that surveyed leading institutions with centrally coordinated institutional biorepositories before developing a plan to create a College of American Pathologists (CAP)-accredited biorepository that would facilitate rigorous phenotyping of samples, and coordination of proteomic, metabolomic, and genomic analyses to enhance the identification of therapeutic targets and diagnostics at Yale.
“Our task force has provided a thoughtful plan to address our biobanking and biorepository challenges at Yale School of Medicine. I am looking forward to seeing the plan come to fruition over the coming years,” said Liu.
The plan is for the biorepository to function as a shared resource that will provide standardized biospecimen acquisition, processing, storage, and distribution for investigator-initiated or programmatic tissue collection.
Nancy J. Brown, MD, Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Medicine, asked Liu to help develop the plan to establish the biorepository. Dean Brown has committed funding to initial development of the biorepository and to support the implementation.
Over 100 laboratories or investigators at YSM have active tissue banking protocols, but most of these protocols are not coordinated, and procedures are not standardized. The work of the task force will ensure that samples can be collected to optimize their use for organoid cultures, cell lines, or molecular studies, and to enhance opportunities for collaboration throughout the School.