# Tissue Modeling Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2024 · $57,218

## Abstract

ABSTRACT – TISSUE MODELING & DRUG DEVELOPMENT CORE (SHARED RESOURCE)
The goal of the Florida-California Cancer Research, Education, & Engagement (CaRE2) Health Equity Center’s
Tissue Modeling and Drug Development Core (TMDDC) is to provide a growing archive of fixed and living tissues
that will support the mission of the CaRE2 Center. In the first funding period (Cycle 1), we were highly successful
in gaining access for FAMU and CaRE2 researchers to annotated tissues from Black/African American (B/AA)
and Hispanic/Latinx (H/L). In total, the TMDDC now has regulatory compliant access across the partnership to
cancer cases including pancreatic cancer blocks (295 B/AA, 306 H/L), pancreatic cancer plasma/serum (136
B/AA, 53 H/L), prostate cancer blocks (548 B/AA, 195 H/L), and prostate plasma/serum (595 B/AA, 92 H/L).
Also, the TMDDC facilitated creation or identification of 4 new patient-derived xenografts (PDX) from B/AA
patients with pancreatic cancer for studies at FAMU and USC. The TMDDC will continue to develop a robust,
well-annotated biorepository of fixed and living tissue samples from a racially and ethnically diverse Florida and
California patient population and make them available to the CaRE2 investigators. The TMDDC will consist of
existing institutional, nationally shared, and future-conscious biorepository resources. The short-term goals of
the TMDDC are to provide the necessary tissue samples for the three projects included in this application, while
preparing for the future needs of the existing and upcoming CaRE2 Center projects. The TMC will address the
challenge of recruiting B/AA and H/L individuals in medical research and the limited supply of quality
biospecimens and genomic data for these populations. Our specific aims are to: Aim 1. Advance our existing
virtual and physical repositories that will increasingly provide biospecimens from diverse tumor repositories
through a single access point provided by the CaRE2 Center. Many cancer types and many tissue models are
relevant to outcomes in disparities research. The broad types of tissues and data required to study these complex
issues make acquisition of a fully satisfactory repository beyond the scope of any single institution. Therefore,
we will develop capabilities to collect or acquire novel diverse and well annotated specimens through our
institutional resources and other resources. Aim 2. Acquire living tumor tissue for drug development. PDXs
have proven to better predict human drug responses than historically used cell-line derived studies. Development
of these PDXs has the potential to facilitate rapid drug development, including testing response as a function of
race/ancestry. The TMDDC will advance the existing Cycle 1 developed tissue repository at FAMU. The TMDDC
will advance on the existing living tissue repository at FAMU. By achieving these aims, we will: (1) enhance
cancer disparities tissue-modeling research; (2) expand cancer disparities resources for CaRE2 r...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10932244
- **Project number:** 5U54CA233465-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Bodour Salhia
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $57,218
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-20 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10932244

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10932244, Tissue Modeling Core (5U54CA233465-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10932244. Licensed CC0.

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