WINDBER RESEARCH INSTITUTE

APOLLO YEAR 4 - WRI HAS A LONG HISTORY OF COLLABORATING WITH WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL, INITIALLY FOCUSING ON THE CLINICAL BREAST CARE PROJECT (CBCP) AND NOW EXPANDING TO PAN-CANCER STUDIES WHICH NOW INCLUDES THE APOLLO PROJECT. WRL'S OVERARCHING ROLE FOR THE APOLLO PROJECT IS TO PROVIDE A CENTRAL BIOREPOSITORY FOR SAMPLE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT, SAMPLE PROCESSING, DISTRIBUTION AND LONG-TERM STORAGE. ADDITIONALLY, SAMPLE QUALITY WILL BE ASSESSED TO ENSURE SUITABILITY FOR RESEARCH. WRL'S INFORMATICS INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEM WILL BE USED TO ENHANCE CLINICOPATHOLOGIC DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT, SUPPORT MOLECULAR DATA MANAGEMENT, AND INTEGRATE AND RENDER DATA AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH. THE BIOINFORMATICS TEAM WILL ANALYZE DATA TO UNCOVER MOLECULAR DIFFERENCES THAT CAN BE USED IN DISEASES CLASSIFICATION, BIOMARKER DISCOVERY AND EARLY DISEASES DETECTION.

BCCOE '22 - BREAST CANCER TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER OF EXCELLENCE. WRI HAS BEEN PROVIDING BIOBANKING, INFORMATICS INFRASTRUCTURE AND BIOINFORMATICS SERVICES TO CBCP FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS. THE BIOBANK AT WRI IS COLLEGE OF AMERICAN PATHOLOGIST (CAP) ACCREDITED, AND SERVES AS THE CENTRAL REPOSITORY FOR ALL THE CBCP BIOSPECIMEN COLLECTIONS. IN VIEW OF THIS, WE MAINTAIN THE HIGHEST INDUSTRY STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF CBCP SAMPLE INVENTORY. TO DATE WE HAVE OVER 280,000 CBCP SAMPLE ALIQUOTS STORED IN OUR FACILITY AND MAINTAIN 24/7 MONITORING OF STORAGE FREEZERS AMONG OTHER QUALITY MEASURES. WE HAVE ESTABLISHED QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS THAT ENSURES SUSTAINED QUALITY OF THE STORED BIOSPECIMENS. THESE STANDARDS ARE IN ACCORDANCE WITH OUR ACCREDITATION STANDARDS AND ENSURED FOR ALL FUTURE COLLECTIONS.