Biopathology Center Resources

Specimen Long-Term Storage

  • Frozen tissues (snap frozen and OCT embedded) are stored in liquid nitrogen (vapor phase).
  • Frozen biofluids and their derivatives (blood, plasma, serum, urine, nucleic acids and pleural fluids) are stored in -80°C freezers.
  • Paraffin embedded materials (tissue blocks, tissue microarrays (TMA), stained and unstained tissue mounted on slides) – we have the ability to store these specimens ambient (at a controlled room temperature) or vacuum-sealed in a walk-in cooler (4°C).

24-Hour Freezer Monitoring

The BPC utilizes the Mesa Environmental Monitoring system to ensure biospecimen integrity and quality. The Mesa system monitors all temperature controlled biospecimen storage units, oxygen monitors, room temperatures, and humidity levels 24 hours a day.

BPC Informatics Team

BPC Informatics (BPCI) is an IT solution delivery team dedicated to supporting the technology needs of the Biopathology Center within the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. BPCI’s primary efforts include: (1) tools and technology to enable modern biorepository workflows, (2) data exchange and integration within and across institutions/collaboratives, and (3) analytic/reporting solutions to support the BPC’s efforts to improve operations and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

BPCI is comprised of IT staff with broad and deep experience in technology domains such as data management, system integration, application development, system architecture, database design, workflow automation, information security, UI design, business analysis, automated testing, data warehousing, and agile project management.

BPCI’s portfolio includes solutions to support the IT aspects of several highly-visible initiatives in the cancer research community and related efforts to translate research into clinical advances. Key successes include support of  COG/NCI Pediatric MATCH, NCTN Navigator, ETCTN Specimen Submission Integrations, the Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN) and the COG’s Project Every Child.

Kit Management

Tissue collection and transportation from an institution to the BPC is facilitated by biospecimen procurement kits. A kit can be tailored to a specific protocol/project, and typically include a cryo-insulated shipping box, specific biospecimen collection instructions, related biospecimen collection tools, instructions on biospecimen treatment, and appropriate storage containers. Creating and ordering customized biospecimen procurement kits are services available for a fee.

Once the kits are designed with the assistance of the BPC team, they can be ordered via a Kit Management application (KMA); this custom-built web-based application allows institutions to order biospecimen procurement kits at their convenience. The application is accessed via the BPC website. The KMA is not only convenient for users, but it also provides the BPC with a tool to track and report the ordering of kits by protocol and institution (allowing the monitoring of proper kit usage).