# Core C: Biospecimen and Pathology Core

> **NIH NIH P50** · MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER · 2022 · $278,121

## Abstract

CORE C BIOSPECIMEN AND PATHOLOGY – PROJECT SUMMARY 
The Biospecimen and Pathology Core (Core C) will be responsible for accessioning and processing new 
biospecimens with annotated clinical data to provide the needed biospecimens for the four SPORE 
translational research projects, for the Developmental Research and Career Enhancement Programs, and for 
other investigators engaged in hepatobiliary cancer research. Core C will build on the existing International 
Hepatobiliary Neoplasia Registry and Biorepository, which has been coordinated by Dr. Lewis Roberts since 
2001, and collaborate with additional existing biorepositories including the Genetics of Cholestatic Liver 
Diseases Registry, coordinated by Dr. Konstantinos Lazaridis, the Liver Transplant Registry coordinated by Dr. 
Kymberly Watt, and the Hepatobiliary Neoplasia Patient Derived Xenograft program which is jointly 
coordinated by Dr. Mark Truty and Dr. Roberts. Core C will also coordinate with The Fibrolamellar 
Hepatocellular Carcinoma Biorepository at the Rockefeller University under Dr. Sanford Simon, which will 
become part of the Core infrastructure. Core C will provide sample accessioning and pathology support for the 
early phase clinical trials as needed in the SPORE projects. Core C will coordinate with the Mayo Clinic Cancer 
Center Biospecimen Accessioning and Processing (BAP) Shared Resource to process blood samples to 
genomic DNA and serum and plasma aliquots, and with the Pathology Research Core (PRC) Shared 
Resource to provide histology and other tissue-based services, including paraffin and frozen sectioning, 
immunohistochemistry, tissue microarray (TMA) construction, and digital imaging. 
Requests for biospecimens will be reviewed by the Biospecimen Access Committee for Hepatobiliary Cancers 
(BAC-HEP), with priority access for SPORE investigators and consideration given primarily to scientific merit 
and availability of biospecimens. Input from the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core will be included in the 
evaluation of biospecimen requests. Dr. Torbenson will provide detailed annotation of the SPORE's tissue 
database for frozen and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues of all available patients who have had 
surgical resections for hepatobiliary cancer at Mayo Clinic, as well as for PDXs, a number of which are derived 
from percutaneous biopsies of patients with intermediate to advanced unresectable and metastatic disease. 
The availability of PDXs from biopsies of more advanced tumors will help to address the concern that most of 
the genetic and molecular analyses of liver and biliary tumors performed thus far, including for example, within 
The Cancer Genome Atlas project (TCGA), has been performed on early stage surgically resected tumors, not 
on the intermediate to advanced and metastatic stage tumors for which advances in therapy are urgently 
needed. Dr. Torbenson will also interpret IHC staining and provide other pathology support such as eval...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10468828
- **Project number:** 5P50CA210964-05
- **Recipient organization:** MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** STEVEN R ALBERTS
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $278,121
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-10 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10468828

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10468828, Core C: Biospecimen and Pathology Core (5P50CA210964-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10468828. Licensed CC0.

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