Markey Biospecimen Core Program (Markey BCP)
The Markey Biospecimen Core Program (Markey BCP) collects, processes, annotates, stores and distributes biospecimens to support translational research in cancer and other diseases. Markey BCP support includes assisting with IRB certification, collecting Informed Consents or the acquisition and the processing of targeted biospecimens in accordance with specific research protocols. Our services are available to University of Kentucky (UK) faculty and other qualified investigators in partnership with UK faculty.
History
The UK Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and its Division of Surgical Pathology, under the leadership of Dr. Michael Cibull, established a Tissue Procurement Service for the Markey Cancer Center (MCC) in 1995. This service was expanded in 2003 under the joint leadership of Drs. Michael Cibull and Andre Baron to create a centralized biorepository capable of storing human specimens for translational or clinical research studies.
Dr. Joseph Pulliam from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine assumed the role of BCP Medical Director in 2006 to coordinate the recruitment of study participants across different clinical venues and to facilitate the accurate annotation of specimens with clinicopathological information.
Mission Statement
The mission of the BCP is to provide comprehensive services related to the collection, storage, management, annotation and dispensation of biospecimens to biomedical researchers.
Facilities
The Markey BCP is housed in approximately 450 sq. ft. of laboratory space with secure storage, intranet and Internet access and equipment required for blood processing and tissue storage. Vials for tissue storage are labeled with bar-coded information for easy identification.
Data from specimens and participants are managed through caTissue Suite, a database developed by the National Cancer Institute. Data is housed on a secure server at the Kentucky Cancer Registry.
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