School of Medicine

Core Facilities

LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center Biobank (CCB)

 

Director

Omeed Moaven, MD
omoave@lsuhsc.edu 
504-210-1845

Administrative contact:
Hong Nguyen
tng112@lsuhsc.edu
504-210-2827

 

Mission  

The LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center Biobank (CCB) provides a centralized, ethically governed, quality-controlled biospecimen and clinical-data resource to accelerate basic, translational, clinical, precision-oncology, and cancer health-disparities research. The CCB collects, processes, annotates, stores, and distributes high-quality cancer-related biospecimens and linked de-identified clinical data under standardized SOPs, IRB oversight, and multidisciplinary governance, thereby supporting investigator-initiated studies, NCI-sponsored research, industry collaborations, and the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center's journey toward NCI designation.

 

Description  

The CCB is the centralized biospecimen repository and shared resource of the LSU LCMC Health Cancer Center. It operates under LSU Health New Orleans’ IRB Protocol #4898 and a Specimen Distribution Agreement between LSU Health New Orleans and LCMC Health.  

This shared resource is organized into two operational sections: a Histopathology Section for tumor, adjacent non-tumor tissue, lymph node, FFPE, and pathology quality-control workflows and a Specimen Processing Laboratory for whole blood, serum, plasma, cfDNA/Streck blood, platelet-free plasma, buffy coat, PBMC, urine, saliva, buccal, bone marrow, and other biofluid specimens. CCB collections support surgical, GI, interventional radiology, clinical-trial, and investigator-initiated research needs. Specimens are banked using standardized preservation approaches, including vapor-phase liquid nitrogen, -80°C storage, snap freezing, FFPE preparation, and viable-cell-ready aliquoting when appropriate.

The CCB is supported by BTM-Research™, a purpose-built biobank automation platform that enables accessioning, inventory management, dynamic storage mapping, pre-analytical variable capture, chain-of-custody documentation, sample search/request functions, IRB tracking, and cost tracking. Clinical annotation is enriched through linkage with the Louisiana Tumor Registry, and future interface development with LCMC's Epic electronic medical record is planned to further strengthen clinical-data capture and research readiness.

 

Locations

  • Biospecimen Core Laboratory: Louisiana Cancer Research Center (LCRC), 1700 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA
  • Collection sites: University Medical Center New Orleans (primary surgical site), Touro Infirmary, and East Jefferson General Hospital
  • Planned/anticipated expansion: Additional LCMC Health sites, including West Jefferson General Hospital and Manning Children’s Hospital

  • Vapor-phase liquid-nitrogen (vLN2) cryostorage with LN2 backup and LN2 transport containers for point-of-collection snap freezing
  • -80°C freezers with emergency power backup for long-term storage of  blood derivatives. 4°C refrigeration for storage of fresh tissue until release to investigator.
  • Histopathology capabilities through LCRC Histopathology, including frozen-section review, formalin fixation, paraffin embedding, FFPE block preparation, and pathology QC for percent tumor and percent necrosis
  • Specimen-processing equipment including biological safety cabinets, centrifuges, rotators, Drummond pipets and supplies for  aliquoting and cryostorage workflows
  • BTM-Research™ biobank automation platform for accessioning, inventory management, dynamic storage mapping, chain-of-custody documentation, IRB tracking, sample search/request functions, and cost tracking.
  • Workstations with BTM connectivity, secure records storage, and planned biobank infrastructure, including certified temperature-monitoring infrastructure

Services are available to approved internal and external investigators following CCB feasibility review, institutional fee-schedule review, Steering Committee approval, invoicing requirements, and any required Material Transfer Agreement or external agreement. Final pricing should be confirmed with CCB leadership/operations as costs depend on specimen type, collection requirements, processing complexity, storage/retrieval needs, data requirements, shipping, and whether the investigator is internal or external.

Service category

Examples

Biospecimen procurement and processing

Prospective tissue, blood, urine, cfDNA/Streck blood, PBMC, and other protocol-specific collections.

Storage, retrieval, and release

Long-term storage, inventory review, specimen retrieval, release, invoicing, and shipping coordination.

Pathology and chart-review support

De-identified pathology reports, pathology QC, chart review, and data reports for approved studies.

Data and annotation support

De-identified clinical annotation, tumor registry linkage, and study-specific data reports.

  1. Investigator obtains or provides an IRB-approved protocol and submits a brief protocol summary with specimen and data needs to the CCB.
  2. CCB leadership performs a feasibility review, including specimen availability, collection logistics, clinical annotation needs, staffing requirements, and preservation method.
  3. The CCB provides a cost estimate based on the approved tiered fee schedule and determines whether a Material Transfer Agreement or other agreement is required.
  4. The request is reviewed by the CCB Oversight and Prioritization / Steering Committee. Approved studies proceed to collection, retrieval, release, invoicing, and, when applicable, execution of an MTA. If IRB approval has not been obtained at the time of Steering Committee review, CCB approval will be granted contingent upon subsequent IRB approval. Specimens may be collected in the interim but will not be released until IRB approval is finalized.
  5. Automated online submission/request capability through iLab. Requests can be made directly by contacting Dr Omeed Moaven at omoave@lsuhsc.edu or Celeste Daigneault at cdaig6@lsuhsc.edu.

  • Prospective oncology biospecimen procurement: Surgical, GI, clinic, and interventional radiology workflows, including fresh tumor, adjacent non-tumor tissue, lymph node, and procedure-derived specimens.
  • Biofluid collection and processing: Whole blood, serum, plasma, cfDNA/Streck blood, platelet-free plasma, buffy coat, PBMC preparation, urine, saliva, buccal swabs, and bone marrow when available under protocol.
  • Histopathology-directed tissue QC and preservation: Percent tumor/necrosis review, snap-frozen aliquots, FFPE preparation, and viable-cell-ready tissue storage when appropriate.
  • Biobank informatics and chain-of-custody support: BTM-Research™ inventory tracking, pre-analytical variable capture, IRB tracking, specimen search/request workflows, and auditable chain-of-custody documentation.
  • De-identified clinical annotation and data support: Chart review, de-identified pathology reports, tumor registry linkage through the Louisiana Tumor Registry, data reports for approved studies, and planned future Epic interface development.
  • Multi-omic research readiness: Support for downstream DNA, RNA, protein, genotyping, pharmacogenomic, biomarker, organoid, and NCI/industry-sponsored biospecimen workflows in selected specimens.