A New Service for Researchers: Pathology Support Laboratory at The Children's Hospital at Westmead

The availability of tumour tissue to cancer scientists from recognized tumour banks has allowed researchers to translate basic understanding of cell biology into knowledge of molecular processes in malignant tissue.

Vital to using human tissue in research applications are the availability of specialised research-oriented histopathology services. The availability of such specialised histopathology services are currently limited with cancer researchers often relying on collaborative relationships and goodwill with hospital pathologists, whose time is often limited. More recently, new technologies have been developed which are designed to facilitate translational research using human tissue, but require specialized technical expertise.

Within the Children’s Hospital at Westmead Tumour Bank we have established a Pathology Support Laboratory (PSL) to support NSW cancer researchers and those working with ABN-Oncology, to facilitate research through the provision of specialized expertise in research-based tissue handling techniques. The PSL will support cancer researchers accessing tissue stored via the Australasian Biospecimen Network through

• the provision of basic tissue sectioning and standard stains, as well as high through-put immunohistochemistry for known or novel targets.
• the creation of tissue microarrays which will allow for the simultaneous examination of hundred of tissue ‘spots’ gridded onto a microscope slide.
• the provision of a digital platform for scanning microscope slides which generate high resolution images of tissue sections, which can viewed at remote sites via the internet, facilitating pathology review by experts around the world, and thus enabling researchers access to ‘virtual’ microscopy facilities.

For further details please contact:

The Tumour Bank,
The Oncology Research Unit,
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
Locked Bag 4001,
Westmead NSW 2145.
Phone 02 98451205 or 02 98453028 email TumourB@chw.edu.au

List your Collection on our Site

 If you have established a human specimen collection or have access to human specimens and data that would be useful for research, and would like to find out about linking in with the Tissue Specimen Locator or listing your collection on this page, please email ABN.ProjectManager@petermac.org.