Archived human tissues are an essential resource for translational research. Formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues from cancer patients are used in a wide range of assays, including RT-PCR, SNP profiling, multiplex biomarkers, imaging biomarkers, targeted exome, whole exome, and whole genome sequencing. Remainder FFPE tissues generated during patient care are ‘retrospective'; use of these tissues under specific conditions does not require consent. For personalized medicine researchers, these specimens are vital resources enabling biomarker validation, detailed molecular analysis, and systems modeling before application is made to individual patients. But access to these human tissues is often a rate limiting factor in cancer research. We propose advanced development of the TIES software to (1) increase institutional capacity for using FFPE to support molecular characterization of human tumors, (2) increase access to tissues within cancer centers, and (3) improve the ability to share tissues and associated phenotype data among cancer centers. Over seven years of previous work, we have created a mature, hardened, and deployed software system that transforms siloed archives and repositories into investigator-friendly, easily accessible research repositories by using natural language processing (NLP) methods. The focus of the current application is further enhancement of the TIES system.
