Pathology Grand Rounds: February 2, 2023 - Andre l. Moreira MD, PhD
February 10, 2023Impact of Biorepository on Translational Research: Role of the Pathologist - by Andre I. Moreira, MD, PhD
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- 00:00OK. Hello everyone and welcome
- 00:02to pathology grand rounds.
- 00:04So this week we have the pleasure
- 00:06of welcoming a new speaker,
- 00:08Doctor Andre Moreira.
- 00:09And so doctor Andre Moreira has
- 00:11a long CV amongst many things.
- 00:14He's a professor of pathology
- 00:15at the New York University.
- 00:17He's the director of surgical pathology,
- 00:19director of the Center for Biospecimen
- 00:22Research and Development and
- 00:24Director of Thoracic Pathology
- 00:25in the same institution.
- 00:27He has over 190 publication
- 00:29has been very active.
- 00:30The field of thoracic pathology done
- 00:33many contributions in lung cancer,
- 00:35non tumor lung pathology,
- 00:37but also mesothelioma,
- 00:39thymoma and other related diseases.
- 00:42I realize now he has a lot of expertise
- 00:43in transplant pathology and and other
- 00:46areas that are very prominent at NYU.
- 00:50So he's clinical expertise is very,
- 00:52very prominent.
- 00:53He has trained many people.
- 00:55A few months ago I visited NYU and
- 00:58I realized that he actually has
- 00:59other skills that we didn't know.
- 01:02And because of that I requested
- 01:03him to speak about a slightly
- 01:05different topic this time.
- 01:06So he will not do the
- 01:08traditional pathology based,
- 01:10you know,
- 01:11morphology centered or
- 01:13clinically oriented talk,
- 01:14but he will talk about another
- 01:16operation he has been running
- 01:17for the last six years,
- 01:19which is a a
- 01:20very important and frequently underestimated
- 01:22by repository operation.
- 01:24So what he has been doing is supporting
- 01:26the whole institution in collecting,
- 01:29processing and distributing
- 01:30biospecimens for research.
- 01:32And this is a substantial
- 01:33operation he will talk about.
- 01:35And I think the role of the pathologist
- 01:37in this type of operations I think
- 01:40is very important and it's something
- 01:42worth learning about and noting.
- 01:44So without further ado,
- 01:46I welcome Doctor Moreda and thank you.
- 01:49Thank you, Kurt,
- 01:51for the introduction and for the
- 01:53invitation to talk to you today.
- 01:54So as I said,
- 01:56what I'm going to talk today is not very
- 02:00traditional even for a grand rounds,
- 02:02but I think it is interest especially
- 02:05for pathologists to see different areas
- 02:07that we can be involved and act on.
- 02:10So the outline of the talk,
- 02:13I'm going to say why there is a
- 02:16need for human tissue biospecimens.
- 02:18A little bit about collection,
- 02:21banking processing and distribution,
- 02:23and I'm talking mostly about
- 02:26the model that I use at NYU.
- 02:29Some financial considerations and the
- 02:32challenges that inevitable will come.
- 02:36So in the classical research model
- 02:40we go for invitro observations,
- 02:42testing in cell lines and then
- 02:45move to animal models.
- 02:48That is an easy experimentation and
- 02:50can manipulate the system much easier
- 02:53than anything else than in humans.
- 02:55And then basically used to
- 02:57formulate your questions,
- 02:58your hypothesis and then you need
- 03:00to go to human for a confirmation
- 03:03and validation of your findings.
- 03:05So the problem with this approach is
- 03:08that it takes a very long time and
- 03:11and there are a lot of issues that
- 03:14why we still need human at the end.
- 03:16For instance,
- 03:17cell lines,
- 03:18we know that they don't have a stable genome.
- 03:20They may not be representative of the disease
- 03:23that they originally came from or even from
- 03:26the organ that they originally come from.
- 03:29So everybody that have
- 03:30worked with cell lines,
- 03:31I mean there's a very well
- 03:33known ovarian cell line,
- 03:35there is not a single ovarian.
- 03:36More that looks like those cells,
- 03:38but that's where they come from.
- 03:41So the observations may not translate
- 03:43very well to clinical cases or
- 03:46especially to a general population.
- 03:48In the animal models,
- 03:50we have different physiologies,
- 03:52therefore there is a very
- 03:54different response to stimuli.
- 03:56What you can expect from humans.
- 03:58There is a great variation in
- 04:01morphology and especially for tumor.
- 04:03I'll show you some examples
- 04:05and again the observations.
- 04:07Cannot be.
- 04:08They may not translate very well to the
- 04:11clinical practice or to the patients
- 04:13due to difference in Physiology,
- 04:15general population,
- 04:16genomic variations and everything else.
- 04:19So this is just some examples.
- 04:22I'm talking about lung cancer
- 04:23because as he said,
- 04:24that's what I work most of the time.
- 04:27So in in animals.
- 04:30In most or many models of lung cancer
- 04:34in in in mice you can modify you can
- 04:39increase the expression of 1 gene
- 04:41gave Ross P53 any other gene that you
- 04:44want to express it will always form
- 04:47exactly the same the same tumor it
- 04:49start with a very small round nodule
- 04:52very well behaved that there is nothing
- 04:55like that in humans and if you live long
- 04:58enough they will have a little bit of.
- 05:00Angela formation. And like here,
- 05:03so you know, it sort of starts to
- 05:06recapitulate the human tissue.
- 05:07But when you look at lung cancer,
- 05:09it is completely variable.
- 05:11There is a very high
- 05:14heterogeneity in morphology.
- 05:15These patterns are very much mixed
- 05:19and in lung cancers in humans,
- 05:21every single pattern has a different meaning,
- 05:24different prognostic significance,
- 05:26which you cannot reproduce in mice, OK.
- 05:31So then there is has been this.
- 05:34Shift in for translational research.
- 05:39So this came mostly after the the TCG
- 05:42study that looked at all the the genome,
- 05:46the human genome so and it became available.
- 05:49So it was much easier to investigate and
- 05:51have that as a platform to investigate human
- 05:54genomes and in in the disease as well.
- 05:57So a lot of technologists especially
- 06:00molecular technologists can now do
- 06:02paraffin embedded tissue which is.
- 06:04There's a large,
- 06:06much larger amount of samples than if
- 06:09you use fresh tissue or frozen tissue
- 06:12specifically collected for research.
- 06:14And again,
- 06:15most of my clients they need
- 06:17now fresh tissue,
- 06:18so they create xenograft models.
- 06:22Though so the collection of fresh tissue
- 06:26from human for experimental pathology
- 06:29or experimental models in the rise.
- 06:32This is very important for drug development
- 06:35and for personalized medicine because again,
- 06:38you can start one lung cancer,
- 06:40it's not going to be exactly
- 06:41like the other one,
- 06:42so they need.
- 06:43That human variation in order to look at the
- 06:47genomic and personalized medicine in them.
- 06:50So we need a comprehensive human tissue
- 06:53banking that can increase utilization.
- 06:56We need to have a very well characterized
- 06:59population for the scientists to
- 07:00investigate and these samples need
- 07:02to have clinical rotation so they can
- 07:05correlate with whatever they find.
- 07:08So just going to show 2 examples of
- 07:10this is a recent paper that basically
- 07:13talked about the need of fresh human
- 07:16tissue for human research.
- 07:18And here they create,
- 07:20they're basically specifically talking
- 07:21about Zeno graph.
- 07:23What is the how, how they.
- 07:26Organize their research.
- 07:28Some, not all, tumors that we try
- 07:30to create a scenographic will grow.
- 07:32We know that.
- 07:34But those that grow are becoming a very
- 07:37important source for DNA fingerprinting,
- 07:40genomic variations.
- 07:43See absolutely models and and
- 07:46drug and testing of drugs as well.
- 07:49This is another paper just to show
- 07:52again the limitations of mouse.
- 07:54We have a mouse here,
- 07:56but basically this is a study
- 07:58on Melanoma where we we do not
- 08:01have a mouse model for Milano.
- 08:03OK,
- 08:04so basically we provided in biorepository.
- 08:07This is a paper from NYU that
- 08:10I'm not involved as an author,
- 08:11but the BIOREPOSITORY provided
- 08:13the tissue for this study.
- 08:16Basically they look at metastatic
- 08:18Melanoma metastatic from.
- 08:20Brain metastasis from,
- 08:21not from the brain tissue and what
- 08:25they notice there is a different
- 08:27expression in protein and basically
- 08:29suggests that whenever the Melanoma that
- 08:31establishes itself in the brain,
- 08:33they secrete. Upload best,
- 08:37better that suppresses inflammation that
- 08:40allows certain metastasis to take hold.
- 08:42So again showing even the same tumor the
- 08:46same disease location is very important.
- 08:48So it is important to have an
- 08:50annotation where it comes from,
- 08:52where is the source so that can allow the
- 08:55scientists to make those discoveries.
- 08:57So what is biobanking?
- 09:00It is a systematic procurement,
- 09:03processing, annotation,
- 09:05storage and distribution of
- 09:08biospecimen for research activity.
- 09:11Biobanking of human specimens in many
- 09:13institutions is part of a broader
- 09:16strategy to support an advanced,
- 09:18high impact biomedical research.
- 09:21OK, I'll show you that there are some.
- 09:24Very different types of biobanks.
- 09:28When I arrived at NYU,
- 09:29everybody was doing their
- 09:31own biobanking side.
- 09:32There is someone doing this,
- 09:34someone doing that,
- 09:35but there is no correlation.
- 09:37There is no integration of that
- 09:40material in that resource.
- 09:42OK.
- 09:42So that's why it is important to
- 09:44have one institutional component
- 09:45that can really serve for multiple
- 09:48purposes and that will allow,
- 09:50and I'll show you some examples
- 09:52later allow for more.
- 09:54Grant support and and everything else.
- 09:57So there are very many different
- 10:00types of vibank.
- 10:01Excuse me, there is no specific.
- 10:04One model fits all.
- 10:06There are biobanks that are more.
- 10:09Towards precision medicine,
- 10:11others about population based and
- 10:13others are disease specific, OK,
- 10:16so there is no specific model but
- 10:18they can function all of this.
- 10:21There are initiatives and we are
- 10:23the biobank for those initiatives.
- 10:26So the for instance an example,
- 10:29there is a group of investigators
- 10:32that NYU that is collecting.
- 10:35Samples from patients with Asian descent,
- 10:39OK,
- 10:40There's a big part of our
- 10:42National Health Institute,
- 10:43so we are the biorepository for them.
- 10:46So that is more of a population based.
- 10:48There is a group that collects lupus brino
- 10:51biopsies from lupus that's more like a
- 10:54disease specific disease biobanking.
- 10:56But again they can all be
- 10:59integrated into the.
- 11:00Deep central biorepository.
- 11:03So what is the most important thing of
- 11:07biobanking today is informed consent.
- 11:09So we need to have an informed consent
- 11:12for patients that will allow them.
- 11:14To collected material that
- 11:16will be used for research.
- 11:18The biobanking needs to conform to local,
- 11:21regional and federal regulations.
- 11:23I unfortunately,
- 11:25unfortunately I work in New York
- 11:27that's tightly regulated all the labs.
- 11:29So my lab is inspected by New York State,
- 11:32by the CHP and we have a lot of
- 11:35paperwork to fill that we will
- 11:38fulfill all of these regulations.
- 11:40One important thing of our bank is
- 11:43the standard and quality assurance,
- 11:45and that's extremely important.
- 11:47I'll give you 2 very bad examples
- 11:51when I was a postdoc.
- 11:53I come from Brazil and I was doing
- 11:56my PhD and there was an investigator
- 11:59at the time that was doing fantastic
- 12:02discoveries in large smania.
- 12:05And he was saying that,
- 12:07you know,
- 12:07a lot of the things that he
- 12:08was finding Leishmania were
- 12:10very similar to the crusade.
- 12:12So basically like a cross link
- 12:14between the two institutions,
- 12:15the two parasites.
- 12:16And then one day someone said maybe
- 12:18you should look at your leishmania.
- 12:20And in fact he was working with the cruise.
- 12:23That's why he was finding all those things.
- 12:25So if you don't know what you're looking at,
- 12:28you may be completely
- 12:29wrong in your discoveries.
- 12:30So that is extremely important to
- 12:32the quality assurance and quality
- 12:34control of everything you're working,
- 12:36especially, you know, human tissue.
- 12:40So data integration annotation is
- 12:43also very important because you
- 12:45want to be able to offer the the,
- 12:48the investigators very well
- 12:50annotated samples.
- 12:51I'll go more little bit about annotations.
- 12:53It can varies a lot but you need to make
- 12:56sure that what you're saying is what it is,
- 12:58OK and give the basic information
- 13:00and there are also financial
- 13:02considerations for a biobank,
- 13:04it is a very expensive endeavor and
- 13:06also the model that we use at NYU,
- 13:09but it's not the same.
- 13:10That you can see in every single biobank.
- 13:15So specifically for NYU,
- 13:17those are the missions that we have
- 13:19is basically to maintain and expand
- 13:22the human biospecimen repository
- 13:24with clinical pathologic connotation.
- 13:27Of patients that signed universal concern.
- 13:29So we have a universal consent
- 13:31that patients are offered.
- 13:33It doesn't matter where they come from,
- 13:35which disease they have.
- 13:36So they offer that consent and if they allow
- 13:40we can we can collect leftover tissue,
- 13:43OK or blood.
- 13:44So this can be from surgeries or even
- 13:47blood that goes for a clinical test.
- 13:50There is leftover.
- 13:51I can collect that material as long
- 13:53as the patient signed the consent.
- 13:59There all the consent.
- 14:00So it's like a clinic or hospitals
- 14:04everywhere, everywhere. Yeah.
- 14:06So originally the consent was.
- 14:10We when I started we the most of
- 14:12the need was to to collect patient
- 14:15to consent patients with cancer.
- 14:18So in the cancer centre registration the
- 14:20patients would come in and then offer the
- 14:23consent as part of their registration then.
- 14:26But patients can come from many different
- 14:29areas so then we have to adapt and evolve.
- 14:33So now we have patients that can be
- 14:35concentrated in the registration office,
- 14:38they can be consented in the clinical.
- 14:40Office by the nurse by the registration
- 14:42desk of of the faculty practice and they
- 14:45can and I have one person now that is
- 14:49located in the pre surgical area and
- 14:52he consents everybody before surgery.
- 14:54It's not very efficient but it's
- 14:55still we still get some patients.
- 14:57So it has to be multiple focal unless
- 14:59you have one area that everybody comes.
- 15:07Another thing is to simulate collaborations
- 15:09with between NYU and outside institutions
- 15:12and apply high quality standards for
- 15:15those biased by vice presidents.
- 15:17So my bar repository as I said is a
- 15:20biorepository accredited by the the CAP
- 15:23by College of American Pathologists.
- 15:25We were inspected every two years and we
- 15:28hold at the same standards as a clinical lab.
- 15:31So the CAPS certification
- 15:33basically gives you a. Clear.
- 15:36It's not that clear.
- 15:38We cannot do tests,
- 15:39but it's a clear equivalent meaning
- 15:41that if I have a tissue there
- 15:43that is needed for clinical tests,
- 15:45that is OK to take my tissue for
- 15:48the clinical test because it has
- 15:51hold over the same standards.
- 15:53So I'll talk about compliance in
- 15:56IRB and the HIPAA requirements
- 15:58which is very important.
- 16:00And so HIPPA is health insurance
- 16:03portability and Accountability act.
- 16:06It's a privacy rule.
- 16:07So privacy rules patients is very important,
- 16:10setting limits and boundaries and
- 16:12the release of medical information
- 16:14and holds violators accountable.
- 16:16So it is very important that one
- 16:18to establish it holds true for
- 16:21all these regulatory issues.
- 16:22And has direct implication for research
- 16:25and patient information, of course.
- 16:28So.
- 16:29Patient consent is the major
- 16:32tenant of biorepository.
- 16:33All samples are collected under an IRB
- 16:38approved HIPAA compliant consent form.
- 16:42So our consent form is the way it was
- 16:45created is mostly for leftover tissue.
- 16:48There are many variations from
- 16:51other biobanks.
- 16:52I can tell you briefly, but for for
- 16:54us the participation is voluntary.
- 16:56The patient is approached,
- 16:57if they want to consent,
- 16:59they will consent and they can also
- 17:01choose what they want to consent.
- 17:03So we can use leftover tissue
- 17:06and leftover blood.
- 17:07We cannot use it for biopsies because
- 17:09biopsies are not leftover tissue.
- 17:11So I cannot.
- 17:12Select any biopsy for research.
- 17:14So if there is a biopsy for research,
- 17:16the patient needs to sign a
- 17:18specific consent for that protocol.
- 17:20OK, the Biorepository will will be able to.
- 17:24Take that sample process and
- 17:26distribute as well,
- 17:27but it's not part of our universal concept.
- 17:30There is a voluntary donation of blood.
- 17:32The patients can say one single blood draw,
- 17:36multiple blood draws.
- 17:37They can opt which is that they want to
- 17:40do one thing that is embedded in the.
- 17:44And and my consent,
- 17:46we cannot consent children.
- 17:48So it's only adults.
- 17:50So the consent allows for linkage
- 17:52of clinical information.
- 17:53So everything that the patient's
- 17:56clinical history, presentations,
- 17:58radiology, molecular tests,
- 18:01pathology tests,
- 18:02anything else is available to
- 18:04the investigation because the
- 18:06consent allows for that.
- 18:07There is no specific project,
- 18:09so it can be used by many different projects,
- 18:12according to the investigators.
- 18:13And if they need to do cell line,
- 18:16develop xenograft genetic tests,
- 18:18everything is already.
- 18:20Written in the consent,
- 18:21so the patient allowed for all that, OK.
- 18:24So there is a coronation of risk
- 18:27and benefits and one thing that
- 18:29our RB ask is that the results
- 18:32are not released to the to the.
- 18:34Patients or anything,
- 18:35but in fact we don't know.
- 18:38What is going to be used.
- 18:39So we don't want to say that we're
- 18:40going to allow you to see your results
- 18:42because we have no idea how it's going
- 18:44to be used and what they are going
- 18:45to be looking for and protection
- 18:47of HIV is extremely important.
- 18:49Most of the specimens that
- 18:51deidentified and are distributed to
- 18:53the investigator the identified.
- 18:55So they they have the clinical information
- 18:58but they do not know anything about
- 19:01that patient apart from. Sex age.
- 19:05But I cannot give them the ear.
- 19:07The patient was born any date is a PHIK,
- 19:10but it's 60 years old. It's OK, OK.
- 19:14Patient can withdraw consent at any
- 19:17moment and some patients do withdraw consent.
- 19:20So how is interaction with the RFP,
- 19:23so everything that is a prospective
- 19:25collected collection needs to have
- 19:28higher be approval which falls under
- 19:30our protocol and everybody else that is
- 19:33doing intervention like clinical trials.
- 19:35So the patient needs to sign consent
- 19:38retrospective studies that is what
- 19:40our my with the biobank becomes now
- 19:43after it has been retrospective.
- 19:45The tissue delegates the realization
- 19:46is easier to get an IRB approval
- 19:49the patient or the investigator.
- 19:50They're not need to have a specific
- 19:52consent from that patient because
- 19:54the material is already there.
- 19:55So a waiver of consent from the
- 19:57RV is easier to everything.
- 19:59You just need to indicate what they can get.
- 20:03The clinical information and so
- 20:04if that is approved by the IRB,
- 20:06I can release that information
- 20:08to the investigate, OK.
- 20:12So basically. There are three
- 20:16levels of RB that we need to follow.
- 20:19Some investigators have a
- 20:23approved protocol from the RB that
- 20:25allows them for identification.
- 20:28So an example COVID test,
- 20:30there was someone that wants to see
- 20:33the the COVID variation and they needed
- 20:35to have the ZIP code of the patient
- 20:38to see where those strains work.
- 20:40So that is a Phi.
- 20:42So they need to get a special
- 20:45dispensation from this the IRB to
- 20:47receive HIV OK or DEIDENTIFIED.
- 20:49This is boss majority so it's it's
- 20:52an easier process and they they are
- 20:54just provide them the samples with
- 20:57the clean connotations that they
- 20:59need and anonymized especially there
- 21:01is no identifier to like someone
- 21:03just asked I need them lung cancers,
- 21:06so that's it then lung cancers.
- 21:07That specimen cannot be traced traced back.
- 21:10If the investigator wants to go
- 21:12back to see what they are,
- 21:14there is no way they can do that, OK.
- 21:17And each one of them has different
- 21:19level of scrutiny from the art.
- 21:22So another important thing is
- 21:24no compromise of clinical care
- 21:26that's your pathology is come in.
- 21:28We are the ones that really know how
- 21:30to triage these these samples and.
- 21:34If if the material comes to pathology,
- 21:37it's a small tumor I need
- 21:40that entire tumor for.
- 21:42For diagnosis, there is going to be
- 21:44no collection for the biorepository.
- 21:46OK, so we have that built-in
- 21:49concerns this one other thing that
- 21:51we did is that we do not allow
- 21:54anymore and let's say we with the
- 21:57institution in general and I had
- 21:59the support of the institution.
- 22:03Basically, we do not allow anybody to
- 22:06collect samples from the OR. But before,
- 22:09surgeons would do their collection,
- 22:11and then nobody knows what it was.
- 22:15Luckily or unluckily, we had a couple of.
- 22:20Missteps that led to RCA and then was easier
- 22:23for the institution to say this is not about,
- 22:27OK, so that is, I say,
- 22:30very bad for the patient,
- 22:31but at least I now can control that process.
- 22:36And a pathologist also can create the
- 22:39optimal collection technique that is
- 22:41important for the viral part part.
- 22:43So the patients go to the ER,
- 22:46the tissue is resected,
- 22:47it comes to pathology with process decide
- 22:49if it can be collected or not and and then
- 22:52we collect according to the protocol if
- 22:54there is something that they need fresh.
- 22:57Sometimes some investigators need
- 22:59samples in a specific media.
- 23:01So we do the collection according to what
- 23:04the investigator needs and we always create.
- 23:07Control a frozen section control slide
- 23:09because we need to make sure that
- 23:11whatever we give into that person to
- 23:14that investigator is exactly what they say.
- 23:16So you can take a piece of tissue,
- 23:18they look, they think there's lung cancer,
- 23:20but it's just inflammatory very tomorrow.
- 23:23So I need to make sure that
- 23:25what I give is what it is, OK.
- 23:27So I always do a frozen section of every.
- 23:30So in this protocol need to to
- 23:33annotate the schematic time.
- 23:35One of the problems that we have there
- 23:37is that investigator would say it
- 23:39needs to be collected like immediately
- 23:41we cannot go to pathology and then
- 23:44collect because the RNA will die.
- 23:47I'm going to be a little bit.
- 23:49Sarcastic,
- 23:50but my answer to this investigators
- 23:52is if you work with something that
- 23:54needs to be collected immediately
- 23:56you should not be working with
- 23:58human tissue because even if the
- 24:00surgeon collect it is not immediate.
- 24:02They need to.
- 24:03The most important thing is the patient.
- 24:05Well, so it is not they cannot stop
- 24:07what they're doing, collect everything,
- 24:09freeze them centrally,
- 24:10investigate.
- 24:11The most important thing is impatient.
- 24:13So there is always the challenge
- 24:15and a cultural change for the
- 24:17investigators to understand how this.
- 24:20Dynamics work and it's just
- 24:22always a tug of war.
- 24:24Everybody that has invested doing
- 24:27anything with humans know how it is so.
- 24:31How we minimize the the the this process so?
- 24:35We receive, I'll show later how the
- 24:38integration is with IT,
- 24:40but everybody that is consented,
- 24:43we have a system that will
- 24:45annotate and and search all the
- 24:47patients that go for surgery.
- 24:48So we receive in 24 hours before the surgery.
- 24:52So these patients ABC will come for surgery.
- 24:55So the day of surgery someone
- 24:57in my team will call to the OR
- 24:59provide them with the lease and say
- 25:01these are the patients ABC that
- 25:03we need that material once it is.
- 25:05Removed from the patient,
- 25:07it comes to pathology immediately
- 25:08and we use like the same system
- 25:11as the frozen section.
- 25:12So there is a Courier that brings
- 25:14that material directly to pathology
- 25:16as if it was a frozen section.
- 25:18Then the EPA or if there is a pathologist
- 25:21that is involved will collect the
- 25:23sample and the biorepository is also
- 25:25not notified of the collection.
- 25:27They are there, they collect the
- 25:29material and they distribute,
- 25:30freeze, whatever they need to do.
- 25:31So that will minimize the scheming time
- 25:34and we annotate when it was removed.
- 25:37The war annotates when it was removed,
- 25:39and we annotate when it was frozen,
- 25:41so we have some control.
- 25:44So again the pathology examination
- 25:45and we do the quality control
- 25:47and assurance of patient care.
- 25:49Once again, if you cannot collect,
- 25:51it will not be collected.
- 25:53It doesn't matter if it's device,
- 25:54gene or research that wants that tissue,
- 25:57the answer is no, OK.
- 25:59And they understand, OK.
- 26:03So how the patient is consented?
- 26:07As I said briefly,
- 26:08we have many different mechanisms.
- 26:10The entire consent process is electronic,
- 26:13so once they sign the electronic format,
- 26:18that material. And go here.
- 26:21So there is a lot of things that goes on,
- 26:23but there is a system that we use,
- 26:25it's called home base.
- 26:27It goes through interface with lab
- 26:29vantage which is our biorepository data
- 26:33manager and interferes with EPIC which
- 26:36is our medical records that we use.
- 26:40And research Navigator,
- 26:41which is all the research that I've
- 26:44done are registered in research,
- 26:46not paid. So this,
- 26:47then once this and this talks constantly.
- 26:50Once again, the patient is identified.
- 26:53They will send.
- 26:55A message to CBD,
- 26:56which with the people and they will do what I
- 27:00said organized with you are with pathology,
- 27:02inform everybody,
- 27:03collect the sample and then freeze,
- 27:05OK and everything is
- 27:07entered in like advantage,
- 27:08which is our management system.
- 27:11It's a big graphic,
- 27:12but it's basically simply,
- 27:13simply that's how it works.
- 27:16So Dubai's personal process,
- 27:18whenever we see,
- 27:20when we still look at the
- 27:22patient identification,
- 27:22make sure that patient is consented.
- 27:25There is a notification of excision.
- 27:27The collection is is done,
- 27:30the tissue is acquired and distributed
- 27:33and processed according to the.
- 27:35So the tissue management?
- 27:38Yes,
- 27:39you have a sense of what is the fraction
- 27:41of patients that are you know you're
- 27:43capturing with this system relative
- 27:45to the ones that could provide.
- 27:48Uh. That's a good question of.
- 27:53Let me can say that from the
- 27:55patients that signed the consent,
- 27:56not everybody goes to surgery. OK.
- 27:59So from the patients that signed the consent,
- 28:02we have about 40,000
- 28:04people already consented.
- 28:06For the entire institution,
- 28:08about 10% of them go to surgery
- 28:10and we have the tissue collected.
- 28:12So that's why we have now one person
- 28:16in in the OR that will collect,
- 28:19will do target consent.
- 28:22The target consent means
- 28:24most of our investigators,
- 28:26they are working with lung cancer,
- 28:29pancreatic cancer, Melanoma,
- 28:31colon cancer.
- 28:32So if the patient is listed for any of of
- 28:35these and they are not consented before,
- 28:37so that person will consent.
- 28:40So I cannot tell you exactly
- 28:42how many patients we skip,
- 28:44but up let's let's say like 10% we collect
- 28:48about 10% of everybody that goes to the.
- 28:51And we also collecting transplant.
- 28:53I'm just talking about cancer,
- 28:54but he collects for.
- 28:56For non cancer as well,
- 28:58OK.
- 28:58So Andrew is your follow up that
- 29:01question not gross specimen show up.
- 29:04So do you have separate about
- 29:07specific person to look at the tissue
- 29:10first or you have your a resident
- 29:13is the routine PSA that will grow
- 29:16that will process the specimen
- 29:19and if there is a clinical trial
- 29:21or specific project so then the
- 29:24pathologist on their trial or on that.
- 29:26Protocol is notified and
- 29:28then very often they are.
- 29:30They want to do the collection themselves.
- 29:33But but yes there is it is not a
- 29:36specific person for the viral post
- 29:38story I everybody in the biorepository
- 29:41they they don't have the ability
- 29:44to grow they're not PA so they
- 29:46would I would for patient care I
- 29:48would not allow them to they're
- 29:50not allowed to to cut insurance.
- 29:52So in other words your bowel
- 29:56pastor shares mythology person.
- 29:59So it is very much embedded in the
- 30:02pathology and what institution.
- 30:04Was present. And I said the institution,
- 30:07because everything else for the
- 30:09biorepository is an institutional resource.
- 30:12So the institution pays the
- 30:15salary of 1 PA of course,
- 30:17if you have 10 PA's and all
- 30:2010 PA's will will collect,
- 30:22there is one PA that is paid by
- 30:24the institution for that function.
- 30:26So that's how we we get everybody
- 30:29to cooperate, yes.
- 30:34So. Whenever we we we collect
- 30:37and we once we collect,
- 30:39we enter into lab vantage with
- 30:42diagnostic information I do not have.
- 30:45The annotation is something a
- 30:48little bit complicated because.
- 30:50You can make a very extensive
- 30:53annotation the investigators.
- 30:54Are not interested in that
- 30:56they they want something else.
- 30:57OK, so that is very common.
- 30:59So what we do is that we do
- 31:01a minimal annotation like
- 31:03diagnosis if there is recurrence,
- 31:05if the patient has been treated or not,
- 31:07very simple annotations.
- 31:08And then if the investigator wants
- 31:11something with a more extensive
- 31:14annotation like molecular notations,
- 31:15then we provide the identifier the.
- 31:20The the Biorepository identifier which
- 31:22is not the patient identifier, right.
- 31:25It's a number that is generated
- 31:27by the system.
- 31:29Then we provide that to the data
- 31:31for and the data core we extract
- 31:34the clinical information that the
- 31:36situation the investigator wants.
- 31:38So in a way we don't have,
- 31:40I don't need to have someone creating
- 31:43a lot of annotations because it
- 31:45varies a lot by every different user.
- 31:48So we create this,
- 31:50this system is that we have a way to
- 31:53get the information that they want
- 31:55that will follow all the regulatory
- 31:57issues and patient identifiers
- 31:59and other which will be released,
- 32:01OK.
- 32:04So the the. The manager the the.
- 32:08The program manager also tracks
- 32:11all the genealogy of the specimen,
- 32:14if there is a split,
- 32:15if there are aliquots,
- 32:16if you already extracted the
- 32:18DNA RNA from that sample,
- 32:20everything enters,
- 32:20so we know exactly what
- 32:22happened to that material.
- 32:28So as I said, clean connotation
- 32:30is very variable depending a lot.
- 32:33We do very limited annotation
- 32:35and extensive annotation requires
- 32:38personal to mine the data and
- 32:40enter the clinical data set.
- 32:42I don't have one person to do
- 32:44that because it is a lot of work.
- 32:46So we basically refer to people
- 32:49that for the resource of the
- 32:50institution that already do that.
- 32:55But a minimal notation is important
- 32:57if patients want if an investigator
- 32:58wants someone that has never received
- 33:00chemotherapy or someone that
- 33:02received chemotherapy, so we cannot.
- 33:06How do you manage to maintain this
- 33:08update, you know like patients
- 33:10that died or patient had follow up
- 33:12or surgeries or other treatments
- 33:15because the the the program
- 33:17is integrated with EPIC.
- 33:20And that information is fed
- 33:22directly into the program,
- 33:23so the diagnosis that.
- 33:25That comes from pathology is integrated
- 33:28this staging we use the the CAP
- 33:31template so that can be uploaded
- 33:33into the into lab vantage as well.
- 33:36So then that data is extracted.
- 33:38If the recurrence is a little
- 33:40bit more tough to get because it
- 33:43is very often sometimes emote.
- 33:45They don't have a biopsy or something
- 33:47that tells it is a recurrence,
- 33:50but date of death is annotated
- 33:52because it goes straight into epic.
- 33:55The problem is if the patient dies.
- 33:57Outside of the system then
- 33:58there is no way I can tell,
- 33:59so they'll say the annotation
- 34:01is very minimal and not.
- 34:05Very extensive. Because of all these
- 34:08variations, one thing that we need
- 34:10to do is to make sure that we have a.
- 34:16What's the word look like?
- 34:18An inquiry or a quality control of the data?
- 34:22So once a year we need to reselect.
- 34:25Once a year, twice a year we
- 34:26select a few cases and make
- 34:28sure that the diagnosis that
- 34:30collected from Epic is accurate.
- 34:32So we sort of need to do
- 34:34a QA of the data, OK.
- 34:39Uh. So the investigators can request
- 34:44that material funded by repository.
- 34:47Again we have two system,
- 34:48one that does not allow for patient
- 34:51identifier and another one that allows
- 34:53for patient identifier depending
- 34:54again on the level of the RV.
- 34:57So then they explained if they want
- 35:00fresh frozen part of embedded tissue,
- 35:02whatever it is, blood,
- 35:04whatever it is that they put in
- 35:06the order and then we'll process.
- 35:08Ever before any distribution disease
- 35:10should be some quality assurance
- 35:13that again that what I'm given
- 35:15the investigator is what it is.
- 35:17Unfortunately I'm the one
- 35:18that does most of this,
- 35:20but other pathologists are helping.
- 35:22But sometimes as I said
- 35:25lung and is a big group,
- 35:27so I have to do all the lung quality
- 35:30control and we also assessed the
- 35:33patient consent form and assess the IRB.
- 35:37Four things that we're going to
- 35:39encounter as well with people that want
- 35:41to do things out of the biorepository,
- 35:43but they do not have an RP or the RB
- 35:45doesn't say that that's what they can do.
- 35:48So we have to do a little bit
- 35:49of regulatory and they'll go
- 35:51back to the investigator said.
- 35:52Your RP does not say anything about using
- 35:56bio specimen or using human tissue.
- 35:58So they need to go back to the IRB,
- 36:00amend the protocol and then we
- 36:03can distribute material.
- 36:05So the service that we do.
- 36:08How do you prioritize distribution?
- 36:10Let's say if you have like a ordinance,
- 36:13who decides who gets what and what priority?
- 36:16So do the. It is not much
- 36:22of a problem because.
- 36:24Very often, for instance,
- 36:25the pancreatic team that's
- 36:27assuming it's very active,
- 36:29so there is the head of pancreatic.
- 36:31If there is, if two investigators
- 36:33asking for the same sample,
- 36:34I can go to the head of the pancreatic
- 36:37program and say which one is more
- 36:40important here or we cannot find
- 36:42something else in general if the patient
- 36:45if one investigator has an NIH grant.
- 36:48That takes priority of someone that
- 36:50does not have an age grant or or
- 36:52doesn't have a funding institution.
- 36:54It's more important than NIH.
- 36:55But so we we we prioritized by the
- 37:02sourcing the fund of source and also
- 37:04if there is more more dispute we
- 37:06can go to the head of the program.
- 37:09If there is no way then
- 37:11I can make that decision.
- 37:13We have a government body
- 37:15that is I respond to the.
- 37:18Associating or translational research.
- 37:20So the bar repository is under the
- 37:24administration of the associate team.
- 37:27So that is the liaison building institution.
- 37:30So basically if there is a conflict
- 37:32that we need to then I can go to
- 37:34the associate Dean and said this is
- 37:35what I tried to receive a conflict,
- 37:37what can we do?
- 37:38And and then it is resolved in that sense.
- 37:41But there is a line of escalation
- 37:43that we can.
- 37:44But as I said,
- 37:45it is not very common because we
- 37:47can always offer another case.
- 37:49It it's very rare that someone
- 37:51needs a very specific patient.
- 37:53Correct for that specific protocol.
- 37:56But of course if someone has a specific
- 37:58protocol in that patient sign also
- 38:00consent but that specific protocol
- 38:02that is the one that goes not the patient,
- 38:05the other investigator that
- 38:06does not have that protocol.
- 38:07So there are different levels of
- 38:09of telling what is the government
- 38:11for that expense.
- 38:15So we have a fully.
- 38:17Histologist service that
- 38:18is mostly for research.
- 38:20We don't do any clear any
- 38:23tests there and we do.
- 38:25We can do everything embedding,
- 38:27cutting, frozen sections,
- 38:29HNE, immune Histology,
- 38:30immunohistochemical stains and
- 38:32TMA's for the investigators.
- 38:35We have a group that does nuclear
- 38:38gas extractions from blood,
- 38:39tissue frozen,
- 38:40whatever it is saliva and they
- 38:43can do RNA and DNA and this
- 38:46is also an automated process.
- 38:48Every single image that
- 38:50is distributed we scan,
- 38:51so there is also a virtual image of
- 38:55that material that can be used for.
- 38:58It is very a lot of AI or
- 39:01artificial intelligence and
- 39:02and digital pathology projects.
- 39:04So they can be used for that
- 39:06process and clinical trial support.
- 39:08Clinical trial support is mostly
- 39:10they need a archival biopsy to
- 39:13make sure the patient can enroll.
- 39:16So my team will go to pathology
- 39:19find that block process the block
- 39:21according to the the protocol
- 39:23and then send it to the directly
- 39:26to to the central lab.
- 39:28That is during the clinical
- 39:30trial or we go to collect a
- 39:32specific biopsy for that clinical
- 39:34trial process according to the
- 39:36protocol and do the distribution.
- 39:38So we sort of take care of all the
- 39:40tissue and blood before research.
- 39:46So this is a little bit of the distribution.
- 39:48So blood is the one that is mostly
- 39:51used because everybody. Yeah.
- 39:53Not everybody works with tissue.
- 39:55So percent of distribute,
- 39:57these numbers are already outdated,
- 39:59but I kept them anyway.
- 40:01But the distribution is sort of stable.
- 40:04So the blood is about
- 40:0680% or 90% distribution.
- 40:08The tissue is about 8020% distribution,
- 40:11which is good, but it means that we have
- 40:14a lot more tissue than we distribute
- 40:16and other fluids is is low utilization,
- 40:19but we don't collect a lot
- 40:20of other fluids anyway.
- 40:22So the. The the tissue.
- 40:25Another thing that I've I did
- 40:26not say is that, for instance.
- 40:30We had a surplus of thyroid
- 40:32and a surplus of prostate.
- 40:35Utilization of those two
- 40:37specimens at NYU is very low.
- 40:40So we've reached the plateau,
- 40:42no more collection.
- 40:43So even if the patient consent,
- 40:45we do not collect because we have a lot,
- 40:48unless there is a specific
- 40:49order for that patient,
- 40:50OK.
- 40:51So we can also decide when to
- 40:53stop collecting if you have enough
- 40:56of that material.
- 40:57So this is just the
- 41:00storage, you know like particularly
- 41:0330,000 block is a lot so are
- 41:05you are you handling that
- 41:06very good. I forgot to mention that too.
- 41:09So we have in house a few freezers.
- 41:13And then NYU contracted another
- 41:15outside vendor that we transferred
- 41:18the freezer to that facility.
- 41:20So they would do all the maintenance,
- 41:22the temperature maintenance of that material
- 41:25and once we need we just request that
- 41:28material should be brought back to NYU.
- 41:31So there is a freezer farm,
- 41:33there are many commercial entities that
- 41:36have that and you know you has a contract
- 41:39with one that is now in New Jersey.
- 41:41Of course this is expensive and that
- 41:43is that's why we try to use as much
- 41:46tissue as possible and link to the
- 41:48collection of cases that are not used,
- 41:50because it's a waste of resource to
- 41:52have all these material and pay for
- 41:55that without having any utilization.
- 41:57Yeah, but that is what I mean
- 41:59especially in Manhattan.
- 42:01It's not very space is a little bit,
- 42:04I don't know any other facilities
- 42:06I have been I I have a.
- 42:09Inspected other biorepositories
- 42:11through the CIP program and they have.
- 42:15A room full of freezes,
- 42:16but they have the space.
- 42:17That doesn't happen in New York.
- 42:22So just to illustrate the the
- 42:24nucleic acids we have automated,
- 42:26we have two automated machines that can do
- 42:28DNA and RNA extraction from large volumes.
- 42:31So the investigators really take
- 42:33advantage of that instead if
- 42:34they're doing one or two cases,
- 42:36they do it themselves,
- 42:37but they're doing 100 cases, 200 cases.
- 42:39It's easier to give it to us
- 42:41and we provide the DNA RNA,
- 42:44we do quality control and then we
- 42:46shift the entire material directly
- 42:48to the genomic center that will do.
- 42:51The sequencing for them.
- 42:54Just an example of how much
- 42:56clinical trials is increasing and
- 42:58we also increasing our support.
- 43:00This 2015 was before my time I came in
- 43:0316 and this is really always a growing
- 43:06number of clinical trials that we are
- 43:10involved in supporting these trials.
- 43:12So this is very quick workflow,
- 43:15the tissue comes or the blood comes.
- 43:18It goes to the biorepository.
- 43:20If there is an order for
- 43:21DNA or any extraction,
- 43:23we extract and then send it to distribution.
- 43:26If there is a fresh tissue,
- 43:28goes straight to distribution
- 43:30or stays in the biorepository
- 43:32and then it goes to Histology,
- 43:34then a process and then distribute.
- 43:37So everything is integrated and
- 43:39every single project is different.
- 43:41So it's not exactly the same for everybody.
- 43:44So why it's important to have certifications?
- 43:48Because that's an assurance of in the
- 43:50investigator that we are doing everything.
- 43:52So we are clap certified.
- 43:53We have a license by the the New York
- 43:56State and we also do proficiency tests
- 43:58from the integrated biobank of Luxembourg,
- 44:01which is supported by the International
- 44:05Society of Biorepository IDL.
- 44:08So we hold 11 certificates of
- 44:11proficiency that includes nucleic
- 44:12acid Histology and everything else.
- 44:15So you know something we do every two
- 44:17years to maintain to make sure that
- 44:19we're doing the right things and it
- 44:21increases the value and I have heard,
- 44:24I've heard, I have seen comments
- 44:26in grants that people say,
- 44:28you know this patient, this, this.
- 44:31Institution has a CAP accredited
- 44:34by a repository,
- 44:35so that's a plus for the
- 44:38grant support that they have.
- 44:41So this is basically our finances mostly.
- 44:44So 19% is supported by Grant,
- 44:48Grant based mostly the,
- 44:51the, the personnel.
- 44:53So we have some personnel that is
- 44:55highly specific for certain grants.
- 44:57Our biggest grants is the
- 45:00Cancer Center grant and also.
- 45:03Ischemic epic net and I'll
- 45:05show you some breakdown later.
- 45:07And this institutional support
- 45:09is still about 30 to 40%.
- 45:12It varies from year to year.
- 45:14So these are we don't make
- 45:16money by repository,
- 45:18we can just reduce the amount
- 45:20of loss from the institution or
- 45:22investment from the institution.
- 45:24But a lot of them,
- 45:26they still have some significant
- 45:27support and most of our resource
- 45:29comes from chargebacks.
- 45:31So every single process.
- 45:32What we do,
- 45:33we have to charge to investigate
- 45:35again cultural change because not
- 45:37everybody is interested in paying
- 45:38something that they could get for free.
- 45:40They think they can get for free,
- 45:42but they are not getting the quality in
- 45:44the material that they they have before.
- 45:49This is mostly the breakdown of
- 45:51the services or collections,
- 45:53how much will recover clinical trials.
- 45:56So this is all grant money from
- 45:58everything that we get and research.
- 46:00Archival is mostly recovering from the
- 46:04pathology archival material tissue that
- 46:07is used for research or for glucose.
- 46:11So why pathologists?
- 46:12We are the most qualified medical
- 46:15professionals to do this by banking job.
- 46:18We are very familiar with this
- 46:20requisition with the clinical
- 46:22implications and characterization of
- 46:23these organs of these tumors or tissue.
- 46:26And we are also very much familiar
- 46:28with the quality assurance process
- 46:30and quality standards for all this.
- 46:32So we are already practicing this.
- 46:35So that's why it is very important to have
- 46:38a pathologist involved and in my situation.
- 46:41As I said, it is very much associated
- 46:44with the Department of Pathology.
- 46:47So the challenge is with
- 46:48difficult to predict the future,
- 46:49we'll never know what you're collecting
- 46:51if that's going to be needed.
- 46:53So we need to be always flexible and
- 46:56adaptable to what comes during the COVID,
- 46:59the investigators in the center,
- 47:01they wanted PBMC, some COVID.
- 47:04So we collected the samples,
- 47:06processed PBMC and utilization 0
- 47:09because by the time they wanted this,
- 47:12they already wanted something else.
- 47:14So there is always a risk
- 47:16that what you collecting.
- 47:17Is not going to be used because
- 47:19it's very difficult to predict.
- 47:21As I said,
- 47:22basically in connotation we need to have
- 47:24support from a data core or someone that
- 47:27can mine epic to get more annotation.
- 47:30What's simple to collect
- 47:32we already went over.
- 47:34What is the technique that we need to invest?
- 47:38And it needs a lot of IT support
- 47:40for the data integration.
- 47:41Without institutional support,
- 47:42it's very difficult to have that IT
- 47:45integration and again institutional support
- 47:48and more important cultural change,
- 47:50because it will require a cultural
- 47:53change for the investigators,
- 47:54from the clinicians and everybody
- 47:56else involved in the process,
- 47:58which is not impossible.
- 48:00It is possible.
- 48:01It creates a little bit of headache,
- 48:03but it changes, which is true for everything.
- 48:06It's not on for this so.
- 48:08Just institutional resource.
- 48:09I want to say that these are grants that.
- 48:13We have supported and you know has been
- 48:16very good in getting those grants.
- 48:18I'm not saying that it's only
- 48:20because of our repository.
- 48:21Of course there is science behind it,
- 48:23but the fact that there is a
- 48:26biorepository that is well annotated,
- 48:28it has been a plus for all these
- 48:31grams that that NYU has received.
- 48:35I have a question about
- 48:37the support relationship.
- 48:39So this four names your
- 48:43repository therefore facility or
- 48:45you have an independent group.
- 48:47It is, it is very good.
- 48:48What happened is a lot of the
- 48:50applications for this sport,
- 48:52they have the requirement
- 48:53to have a pathology.
- 48:54So very often there is
- 48:56a pathologist involved.
- 48:58There are two mechanisms that we can do.
- 49:00We can keep everything in the
- 49:02biorepository and then the
- 49:03investigators take from there.
- 49:05Or we do that for the Melanoma
- 49:08spore that all these samples are
- 49:10procured for us by abide the CBD and
- 49:14then we release immediately that
- 49:16sample to develop normally sport.
- 49:18So they have their own annotations
- 49:20and they're all by repository.
- 49:22So you can do both.
- 49:24You can keep everything in your central
- 49:26repository or you can procure the
- 49:28samples and then distribute to them.
- 49:30And of course they have the financial,
- 49:33you can do the charge back because they have.
- 49:35The financial support to give
- 49:37to the buyer repository.
- 49:38So there are just two models that we can do.
- 49:40Thanks for asking.
- 49:41I forgot to mention that and
- 49:43we do the same question.
- 49:44How do you handle investigators
- 49:46that are not there anymore or projects
- 49:49that started acquired samples or you
- 49:51made a distribution and then they leave
- 49:53the institution or the project ends,
- 49:55big problem. So this is a big problem
- 49:59for the institution and we have
- 50:02created a biospecimen policy for NYU.
- 50:04So basically now requires that every
- 50:07investigator that is collecting sample
- 50:10independent of the viral repository to
- 50:13have everything annotated in lab vantage.
- 50:16I'm I'm saying lab vantage,
- 50:17not a propaganda, anyone can use different,
- 50:19but that's the one and why
- 50:21you use this and I'm familiar.
- 50:23So everybody needs to enter all
- 50:25their specimens in advantage.
- 50:27So once the investigator leaves,
- 50:29that material comes to the viral repository.
- 50:32So then I'll be responsible
- 50:34for that material.
- 50:35And this is a major challenge because
- 50:38not everybody is making good annotations
- 50:40and good good keeping of that material.
- 50:44So that's part of the cultural
- 50:46change that I think that is has to
- 50:48come and it's slowly improving.
- 50:50But that was something that is still
- 50:53happening and it is always a problem
- 50:56with someone who has leaves and then
- 50:58they cannot take the samples and then
- 51:00the samples are useless because there
- 51:02is no annotation, don't know what it is.
- 51:05And so it.
- 51:08In a good way that it reinforced
- 51:10to the institution the need for
- 51:13a centralized biorepository that
- 51:14can be responsible for others.
- 51:16So you know what all these mishaps has been?
- 51:20Very good for the central
- 51:23Biorepository because basically yes.
- 51:25And very fortunate that we have the
- 51:28support of institutions says yes,
- 51:30you're the ones that need to
- 51:31take care of this.
- 51:33Well, another word, do you have like?
- 51:35Living in the institutional support,
- 51:37let's say, you know,
- 51:39during COVID or whatever reason you're not.
- 51:41Getting, you know, distribution
- 51:43events to to support yourself,
- 51:45you know, being able to charge.
- 51:47Do you have like a limit in the amount
- 51:49that the institution will support?
- 51:52I haven't encountered that even.
- 51:55Yeah, it works even during the COVID
- 51:58because a lot of the investigators, they.
- 52:01The labs were closed, so they switched
- 52:04a lot of their efforts into COVID,
- 52:07so everything that we're collecting,
- 52:08they would use.
- 52:11So for COVID specifically,
- 52:14the institution created a grant.
- 52:17That they were provided to the investigators,
- 52:20not outside the Grantwood
- 52:21institutional grant, so.
- 52:23Yes, I think the institution will take,
- 52:26I don't know what is their
- 52:28limit but they will do that.
- 52:30And I also know there is now an
- 52:33investigator a very big on genetics.
- 52:35So he's trying to get to create the
- 52:38genetic center at NYU and he's using a
- 52:41lot of he doesn't have specific grants
- 52:43for that generate preliminary data.
- 52:46So the institution is provide him
- 52:48with a grant to do that process
- 52:51and that includes by repository.
- 52:53So again it is.
- 52:55Of course, there's nothing to do with me.
- 52:57I'm not the one making those decisions,
- 52:58but the institution make the decisions to
- 53:01support investigators during that time.
- 53:03So again,
- 53:03that's that's what it is and that's
- 53:05the model that I've been working.
- 53:08So I can follow the question about
- 53:12the party, the investigator.
- 53:13Do you guys you know have an institutional
- 53:17or like a formal institutional policy,
- 53:20how you either allow certain investigator
- 53:22to carry some of these with them?
- 53:26There is a policy in general,
- 53:29I'm not aware that they allow
- 53:32investigators to take their samples
- 53:34with them because everything is
- 53:36considered institutional resource.
- 53:38If there is a situation like that.
- 53:41They're probably discussed
- 53:42with the Dean or the the,
- 53:45the, you know, I, I,
- 53:46I'm not part of that discussion,
- 53:47but there is a policy that institutes
- 53:50that everything needs to be cataloged
- 53:52in that specific system and that
- 53:54they cannot take their material out.
- 53:58Relations with the rest of the annotation.
- 54:01So it wasn't a PC system.
- 54:03Do you use the APR or is it
- 54:06we we was epic beaker?
- 54:09Think of that. I actually will
- 54:12see either waiting on it.
- 54:14Yes and no because we just had a transition
- 54:18between power path to epic beaker,
- 54:20so the whole system was created
- 54:24to interface with power pad.
- 54:27So now we bicker, we have to get again
- 54:29the IT support to change that material and
- 54:32then integrate with speaker. So it is a.
- 54:35We're now integrated with weaker,
- 54:37but there was that transition in the middle.
- 54:40Another talk talking about that you're OK.
- 54:45It is a. If you're going
- 54:48traffic because I'm I'm now,
- 54:49I'm used to it, it's fine,
- 54:52I'm very used to it and I've
- 54:53already forgot everything else.
- 54:54But it is a learning curve.
- 54:57It is a learning. Especially for
- 55:00the for the pathologist notebook,
- 55:01for the labs, it's more learning.
- 55:03I think that's all.
- 55:06Oh, just a just another example of
- 55:08a paper that used material from the
- 55:11biorepository that is published recently.
- 55:14But no.
- 55:15So just to conclude the bank can
- 55:17deliver quality specimens and a
- 55:19critical resource of the medical
- 55:21science is an invaluable resource
- 55:23to the increased needs of high
- 55:25throughput technologies and accuracy
- 55:27of data generated depending on
- 55:30the quality of the vice specimen,
- 55:32which is very, very important.
- 55:34So this is the team.
- 55:36We started with six people.
- 55:37We are now 24 excluding me,
- 55:4125 with me and we.
- 55:45That is the the team that we have right now.
- 55:49Thank you.
- 55:53Yeah, so something more important.
- 55:57I am just. Right now,
- 55:59I don't need to be there every day.
- 56:01Everything goes without me.
- 56:03But Sandra Mendoza is the manager
- 56:06and the assistant director,
- 56:08and she's really the person
- 56:10that maintains that,
- 56:11the whole structure functioning.
- 56:12So you need someone that
- 56:14has to be there every day.
- 56:16If you can have a pathologist,
- 56:17great, but not always easy to get a
- 56:20pathology should be that exclusively.
- 56:21But you know, once someone is
- 56:24trained and organized that is,
- 56:26it works extremely well.
- 56:28Thank you.
- 56:31Question. Yes please.
- 56:35And it was striking that you distribute
- 56:3720% of your tissue samples but it
- 56:40wasn't clearly how you decide what
- 56:42to to that is no ones working on
- 56:45sarcoma YouTube every what if I come
- 56:47to you and I play on 110 that Jason's.
- 56:52If you have that or how do you decide
- 56:54what you collect and what you described?
- 56:56So we collect everything from
- 56:58patients that signed the consent.
- 57:01So if there is a sarcoma,
- 57:02will collect the sarcoma if there is,
- 57:04even if there is nobody working
- 57:06on it or there is no need for it.
- 57:08What I stopped collectively is when
- 57:10I have like I think I have like 1000
- 57:13thyroids and thousands or more than 1000
- 57:15prostate cancer and nobody requests it.
- 57:18So I'm not going to order to get anymore.
- 57:21But for other cases like head and neck,
- 57:25head and neck is difficult to collect
- 57:28because nowadays most patients it's a
- 57:30tiny biopsy and then the patients get
- 57:33therapy and then they take it out.
- 57:35What is that over?
- 57:36Not always there is viable tumor there,
- 57:39but we collect from the head and neck.
- 57:41We have some salivary glands,
- 57:43we have sarcomas, we have a lot of.
- 57:47We have trust funds,
- 57:48we also collect the heart and lung
- 57:51transplant material liver transplant.
- 57:53So if the patient consent to recollect.
- 57:56Then when you do it like so we
- 57:58just keep it unless we have 1000
- 58:00prostates they're getting old.
- 58:02Are they still valuable.
- 58:03They're still valid with as long
- 58:05as they are annotated and we do
- 58:07periodic quality assurance and
- 58:09then if they if there is a problem
- 58:11then we have to throw them out.
- 58:13But in general they they
- 58:15maintained very well.
- 58:16They should if if you keep them in minus 80
- 58:19or liquid nitrogen they they stay very well.
- 58:21I did a A for a small project
- 58:24we note remember that.
- 58:26NYU had a sandy hurricane that came
- 58:31and basically destroyed and why you you
- 58:34were like almost one year without function.
- 58:37So there was already sample.
- 58:39This was before the Biorepository but there
- 58:41was some samples there already collected.
- 58:43So I wanted to see that material
- 58:46was still viable and useful.
- 58:48So we did a little project and we
- 58:50published in the BIOREPOSITORY
- 58:51during or whatever it is,
- 58:52but basically saying that
- 58:54it is good for Histology,
- 58:55immunohistology.
- 58:56RNA DNA extraction,
- 58:58everything that we need that
- 59:00issue is still useful.
- 59:02So it it is quite resistant this issue.
- 59:08So long you talk about whether you
- 59:12connect any tissue or PEX or PO.
- 59:18So basically the investigator will
- 59:21place an order so like they want.
- 59:27Small squamous cell carcinoma let's
- 59:29just OK and then when I have a case
- 59:33then we inform the the clinician the
- 59:35this the investigator we have today
- 59:37someone that is supposed to come for for.
- 59:41For excision that has squamous cell
- 59:43carcinoma, do you want the tissue?
- 59:45So they will say yes or no.
- 59:47Sometimes what investigates is tell
- 59:49me because these two processes say if
- 59:52the tissue comes until 3:00 o'clock
- 59:54in the afternoon, I'll take it.
- 59:56If the tissue comes 7:00 o'clock
- 59:57in the evening, I don't want it.
- 59:59I mean of course they need to
- 01:00:01also work their workflow,
- 01:00:03but that's how the the discussion
- 01:00:05is done for every single order that
- 01:00:08they displace and then once it comes
- 01:00:11we they give the protocol so they
- 01:00:13want to collect the tissue in RMI.
- 01:00:15We give them an RMI,
- 01:00:17each collect another sample,
- 01:00:19another fluid, another vehicle.
- 01:00:21We we doing that with you.
- 01:00:24So we we adapt to whatever the
- 01:00:27protocol of that investigator is.
- 01:00:30But that's how we we've been
- 01:00:32sending material.
- 01:00:33Most of the PDX that people are xenografts,
- 01:00:37that people working are
- 01:00:40again long and ponderous.
- 01:00:42So these are my biggest customers.
- 01:00:47So Andreas, this is another situation,
- 01:00:50I don't just pass it to CPR experience.
- 01:00:53So what what happens if someone
- 01:00:57investigator asking some?
- 01:00:59A solid material.
- 01:01:01Which started the organization,
- 01:01:04not the your bank,
- 01:01:05but it's part of the current case.
- 01:01:07In other words,
- 01:01:08it's like year or two years.
- 01:01:11So yeah, so that's why our system is
- 01:01:15integrated with the pathology system.
- 01:01:17So everything this was a decision
- 01:01:20of the Chair of pathology that every
- 01:01:23single specimen that is in the
- 01:01:25archival is available for research.
- 01:01:27So is there any time limit? Like
- 01:01:29there is no time limit,
- 01:01:31the only thing is that. Uh.
- 01:01:32In general, I make that determination,
- 01:01:35see if there is a biopsy and
- 01:01:38there is not enough material for
- 01:01:39what that investigator wants.
- 01:01:41I'll tell them this patient is not good.
- 01:01:43Maybe you have to find another one.
- 01:01:45If they just want an H&E,
- 01:01:47which is easy,
- 01:01:50but I haven't encountered,
- 01:01:52I have encountered only one situation
- 01:01:54that it was a patient in a clinical
- 01:01:57trial for breast that they needed
- 01:01:59the material from the archival.
- 01:02:00So that material was given through
- 01:02:03the central lab and then another
- 01:02:06clinician that was not aware that
- 01:02:08that patient was in a clinical trial
- 01:02:11requested the test in that block.
- 01:02:13So, but again it has really nothing to
- 01:02:16do with me is basically saying informing
- 01:02:18putting the two clinicians together say
- 01:02:21this patient is part of a clinical trial,
- 01:02:23the material has been central clinical trial.
- 01:02:25So what we can do is to
- 01:02:28request the block back.
- 01:02:30We don't distribute blocks,
- 01:02:32we just do IC like a scan.
- 01:02:35But sometimes for clinical trials if
- 01:02:37there is only one block that's very
- 01:02:40important then we release the block.
- 01:02:42But then we can request a block back
- 01:02:44if there is a clinical situation,
- 01:02:45but that it's not very common but
- 01:02:48if the case is not signed out.
- 01:02:50We will not release the I have.
- 01:02:53We had one last week someone asked for.
- 01:02:5820 unstained slides from a case that
- 01:03:00was not signed either, said no,
- 01:03:02because I don't know what's going.
- 01:03:03You know,
- 01:03:04clinical care is the most important.
- 01:03:07After it is done, everything is done.
- 01:03:10If they order,
- 01:03:10all lung cancers go from molecular.
- 01:03:12After they've done everything and.
- 01:03:15If there is tissue left, you can use,
- 01:03:17otherwise so it's a daily.
- 01:03:20Case by case decision.
- 01:03:23Thank you.
- 01:03:25Thank you very much,
- 01:03:26Andrew. Again, thank you.