The department of pathology prides itself as the stewardess of tissues removed during therapeutic or diagnostic procedures. Excess tissues after samples have been taken for diagnostic purpose, however, represent increasingly important resource for translational research. Equitable collection and distribution of material to enable research while at the same time protecting the patient's interest and privacy has become a part of the mission of the pathology department.
The BWH pathology department operates two core facilities to facilitate identification and access of material for research.
Pathology Specimen Locator (PSL)
The Pathology Specimen Locator (PSL, formerly known as Virtual Specimen Locator (VSL)) is a Harvard Medical School wide consortium of four major teaching hospitals (BWH, MGH, BIDMC, and CHB) that help in identification and retrieval excess human tissues for research. It is set up as a core in the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC).
Crimson biospecimen banking
The Crimson Biomaterials Collection Core Facility prospectively collects discarded clinical materials matching investigator-defined criteria against available information on clinical samples, including ICD.9 codes and results of clinical laboratory testing. The core provides a web-based software application, called “Crimson” to allow investigators and associated study staff to manage collected sample repositories and associated data.
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