Our services

The Immunohistochemistry and Tissue Micro array core facility provides a number of immunohistochemistry (IHC) services aimed at ensuring you achieve the highest quality results. There are numerous advantages to using the HCB IHC services including close contact with our experienced IHC technician throughout the process of antibody selection, optimisation and validation by our Biobank Pathologist.

Our primary services include:

• Fully automated IHC services, including antibody optimisation using the Discovery Ultra
• Manual IHC and optimisation consultancy.

Our service includes a team of highly skilled laboratory staff with extensive experience processing blood samples in line with our established protocols as well as trial/study specific protocols provided by research teams. Our services include processing, storage in either -80°C, liquid nitrogen or ambient environments – along with distribution and tracking. Our staff can receive samples directly to the laboratory or collect from John Hunter Hospital and regularly ship samples either through in-house transfers or courier networks.

Standard blood derivatives include;

• Plasma/Serum
• Buffy Coat
• PBMCs

Additional processing/analysis includes;

• DNA/RNA Extraction
• Quantitation using TapeStation or Bioanalyzer
• Flow Cytometry to assess cell viability

Additional sample processing including saliva, urine CSF etc can also be processed - please contact the team to discuss your needs and our capabilities.

Our service is one of the few accredited and NSW Health certified biobanks in Australia to store FFPE, frozen tissue and blood for use by researchers. While human biological samples are the primary sample type stored by our service we also have experience working with environmental and zoological samples.

Our staff are highly trained in the use of Laboratory Managements Systems (OpenSpecimen) to ensure that all samples are efficiently catalogued and stored to the highest levels of industry standards.

Operating with the OpenSpecimen system enables our team to manage our inventory with a professional and industry standard system.

Capabilities include;

• Development of bespoke collection and storage protocols
• Sample tracking
• Generation of inventory reports for efficient KPI reporting

Our current partners range from commercial trial consortiums to smaller heritage collections and we have experience with both national and international shipping protocols.

If you or your research group are looking to store biological material please contact us for further information at HCRA-Biobank@newcastle.edu.au

Our team have staff available for bespoke kit preparation and distribution for various multi-centre or large scale studies. Kits can be developed for collection, processing, storage or distribution of samples.

Kits can be produced on both small and large scale, relative to the nature of the trial or research project.

At present we provide services for both local investigator, cooperative and industry sponsored studies as part of a growing portfolio across the HNE Clinical Cancer Research Network.

Outside the scope of providing archival tissues for established clinical trials, our team work closely with the HMRI Clinical Trials Facility to assist in the development and activation of new trials.

Support Services Include:

• Designing collection protocols and establishing hierarchy for the cataloguing and storage of samples
• Provision of archival tissue to established trial units (pending consent, NSW Health Pathology agreements and HREC approval)
• Facilitating the transfer of samples from local study sites to central laboratories
• Processing of trial specimens for investigator driven studies (including both fresh tissue and liquid samples)

Central laboratory facilities including receipt, storage, analysis and processing for multi-centre studies on an international scale.