Fred Hutch (Coordinating Center)

As a world-class research center committed to scientific excellence, openness, and innovation, Fred Hutch has led the effort to engage and unite our network partners toward the collective pursuit of scientific contributions to health and wellness through enhanced specimen access for the region’s researchers. Fred Hutch hosts the SAN Coordinating Center which facilitates cross-collaboration and best practice sharing across network partners, provides support to investigators requesting specimens through the network, and measures the scientific impact the SAN has on research in the Pacific Northwest or beyond. In addition, resources are available through the coordinating center to help researchers with IRB applications, verbiage for consents and protocols, and data management strategies.

BC Cancer

BC Cancer operates six regional cancer centres, and works in partnership with communities to provide a network of chemotherapy clinics so patients can receive care closer to home. Their mandate covers the full spectrum of cancer care from prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, to research and education, to supportive and palliative care. Research is an essential part of BC Cancer’s mission to not only find the causes of cancer, but to find better treatments for prolonged life and better quality of life.

They have an expansive collection of resources and training for any groups interested in working with specimens for the first time, establishing biobanks, and for pathologists participating in collection of specimens for research. This is in addition to hosting a biobank of their own and bringing together a network of biobanks across UBC/BC Cancer in British Columbia to facilitate quick access to high-quality specimens – acting as the coordination center for the Canadian Tissue Repository Network.

Along with other research support, BC Cancer provides high quality biospecimens for cancer research. Their specimen inventory consists of frozen tissue, FFPE tissue blocks, and blood covering from several cancer types, including breast, colorectal, ovarian, and lung.

Learn more about their biobanking related work.

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI)

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) is one of the few research institutes in the world dedicated to discovering causes and cures to eliminate autoimmune and immune system diseases. At BRI, they don’t focus on one or two autoimmune diseases — they focus on them all. Over 15,000 volunteer donors have contributed to their biorepositories, housing samples open for use under collaborative agreements.

BRI houses the Immune Mediated Diseases Biorepository, a collection of tissue, blood, and medical histories from volunteers with and without disease, referring collectively to 9 different biorepositories: Healthy Volunteers, Allergies & Asthma, Celiac Disease, BRIdge T1 Diabetes, Down Syndrome, Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatic Diseases, and Immuno-Oncology Research BRITE Tumor Tissue Repository and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.

Learn more about their biobanking related work.

Legacy Health

Legacy Health has roots that go back more than a century to charitable hospitals, and has evolved into a leader in health care. As a locally owned nonprofit, they invest in improving the community while striving to help everyone live healthier lives, making them essential to the health of the region. 

The translation of biomedical research findings to advance patient care is a core goal of the Legacy Research Institute. Research is the driving force underlying advances in the understanding, prevention, and treatment of medical conditions and diseases, as well as the basis for medical practices and procedures. The Legacy Research Institute provides the science, technology, and innovation that is transforming medical care.  The Legacy Tumor Bank stores human tissue samples from cancer patients to be used in research studies aimed at finding a cure for cancer. The collection contains over 8,000 snap frozen solid tumor specimens of all types, with one third being breast cancer tissue. The biorepository continues to collect several hundred unique specimens annually, and banks both tumor and normal tissue samples.

Learn more about their biobanking related work.

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)

Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is Oregon's only academic health center and distinguished nationally as a research university dedicated solely to advancing health sciences. OHSU focuses on discoveries to prevent and cure diseases, on education that prepares the health care and health science professionals of the future, and on patient care that incorporates the latest advances.

The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, known as one of the pioneers in personalized cancer medicine, is an international leader in research and cancer treatment. The OHSU Knight Cancer Institute BioLibrary is a CAP-accredited laboratory that collects, stores and disburses human biospecimens for use in research and test development. The BioLibrary’sexperienced staff continue to define and implement best practices by which biospecimens and related data are collected, stored and distributed for research applications. 

The BioLibrary offers retrospectively collected specimens in the form of FFPE blocks, Flash Frozen Tissue, OCT blocks, blood derivatives and purified DNA and RNA. Managed collections include clinical pathology archives, federated disease-specific collections, and a central disease-agnostic repository. Specializing in oncology cases, our collection has grown to include numerous other disease types as well as disease-free controls. This includes a myriad of cancers, both common and rare, as well as biosamples from Knight Cardiovascular Institute, gastrointestinal tract biopsies related to a Irritable Bowel Syndrome study, and Multiple Sclerosis related biosamples. The BioLibrary offer investigators a variety of tissue types with associated clinical and molecular testing data. Other biosamples are available through OHSU faculty depending on disease interest.

Learn more about the their biobanking related work.                     

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is a leading center for scientific discovery in chemistry, data analytics, and Earth science, and for technological innovation in sustainable energy and national security.

Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI)

The Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI) utilizes a team of providers focused exclusively on cancer care, from diagnosis to treatment to survivorship. They fight cancer using every available tool — from the rapidly developing science of gene sequencing to innovative treatments and therapies to the compassionate care and support patients and their loved ones deserve.

UW Medicine

UW Medicine is a Seattle-area clinical provider as well as a teaching and research hospital. NWBioSpecimen, based at the University of Washington Medical Center, is a collaborative resource connecting well-characterized research specimens to innovative research projects aimed at improving the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease. NWBioSpecimen is a collaboration between UW Medicine, Fred Hutch, and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The mission of NWBioSpecimen is to provide investigators with broad access to high-quality specimens and annotation data including medical record data. Services may be customized to the specific needs of each research project, in a manner that is cost effective for investigators and aims to be self-sustaining for our institutions.

NWBioSpecimen offers prospective collection and access to archival tissue from pathology when sufficient tissue remains to meet clinical needs. Samples are obtained from pathology laboratories (tissue from frozen section room, gross room, and other laboratories), laboratory medicine facilities (for remnant portions of blood and other specimens), radiology procedure suites, and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance clinics.

Learn more about their biobanking related work.

Washington State University (WSU)

Washington State University (WSU) is a public research university committed to its land-grant heritage and tradition of service to society. WSU’s mission is to advance knowledge through creative research and scholarship across a wide range of academic disciplines, to extend knowledge through innovative educational programs and to apply knowledge through local and global engagement that will improve quality of life.