Molecular Pathology
Overview
The Vancouver Prostate Centre's Molecular Pathology core facility offers clinical grade, high throughput analytical services with fast turnaround times. Our unique access to live human tumour tissues allows for identification of new tumour targets, validation of function, and the development of tumour models in our Functional Genomics core facility.
Cellular and Molecular Imaging Suite
The Cellular and Molecular Imaging Suite supports the use of state-of-the-art bright field, laser scanning and spinning disk confocal fluorescent microscopic imaging technologies for cellular and subcellular localization studies of molecules and pathways critical to prostate cancer cell growth and survival. These imaging systems are used to monitor cellular expression and localization of proteins, which enable studies of the role of these factors in regulation of tumour cell growth, survival and differentiation signalling pathways.
Bio-Repository – A Unique Research Resource
The Vancouver Prostate Centre has a tumour bank that contains well over 3000 prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular tumour specimens (both fresh frozen and paraffin embedded). This tumour bank has an integrated database that is overseen by a coordinator, along with a full-time research pathologist and staff.
Updated: October 18, 2024
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Molecular Pathology Overview / Expertise and Services
Expertise and Services
The pathology core provides comprehensive, rapid molecular pathology services ranging from standard histology to custom work such as TMA construction, antibody validation, and genomic analysis including CISH and FISH, in addition to providing the pathology expertise required for scoring and interpretation of results.
Services
Our molecular pathology and applied genomics core is supported by a world class team of molecular biologists, pathologists and offers a broad range of analytical services to the public and private sectors including:
- Immunohistochemistry (Single, Double, and Multiplex staining)
- In situ immunofluorescence
- In situ hybridization (FISH & CISH)
- In situ Toxicology Analysis
- In situ Proximity-ligation Analysis
Tissue Micro Array (TMA) construction
High-throughput scanning and Digital Image Analysis (Image storage service, Remote VPN access)
Whole Mount Tissue Analysis
Updated: October 18, 2024
Molecular Pathology Overview / Bio-Repository
Resources
The Vancouver Prostate Centre’s collection includes the world’s largest repository of the following:
- pre- and post-treated urogenital tumours
- tumours stratified from low to high risk (matched primary and metastatic tumours)
- treatment resistant cancers fully annotated for previous therapies, responses, stage and prognostic indicators, biomarkers etc.
An established bank of more than 700 human radical prostatectomy specimens stored at -156 degrees centigrade and in paraffin blocks
More than 1,000 archived prostatectomy specimens from patients with no prior hormone therapy or after variable periods of pre-treatment with one, three, or eight months of neo-adjuvant hormone therapy prior to surgery.
The VPC has also constructed the following:
- Tissue microarrays (TMAs) from post-treated cancer specimens that are useful for high throughput validation of transcriptional profiles.
- TMAs spotted with control normal prostate tissue together with more than 400 individual samples from benign, and Gleason grades of 1 to 5 all linked to clinical correlative data and PSA recurrence rate status.
- A TMA with rare tumours of NEPC and CRPC TURP specimen.
- A unique post-hormone therapy treated TMA consisting of a total of 336 cores from 112 patients treated with no hormone therapy (21), 3-6 (49), and more than 8 (28) months of neo-adjuvant hormone therapy prior to radical prostatectomy, and 14 patients with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer.
- TMAs from patients entered into the Canadian Uro-Oncology Group randomized comparative study of 3 vs 8 months of neo-adjuvant hormone therapy, as well as from a multicentre Phase II trial of 70 patients treated with neo-adjuvant hormone plus docetaxel, all with annotated clinical and pathological correlates.
- Various TMAs from bladder and kidney tumours before and after treatment.
Background
The Vancouver Prostate Centre has been collecting human urological tumours for well over 20 years. The process of collecting and bio-banking these specimens has been undertaken with an institutionally approved consent form and each individual specimen has been consented for research purposes within the institution. VPC implements high ethical standards to protect patient’s confidentiality in this process.
All the experiments conformed to the principle of University of British Columbia, Office of Research Ethics, Clinical Research Ethics Board, with assigned UBC CREB NUMBER.
The CREB procedures/policies correspond to, and therefore comply with the ethical principles that were developed in the Declaration of Helsinki.
Updated: October 21, 2024
Molecular Pathology Overview / The Team
The Team
Dr. Mads Daugaard, PhD, Molecular Pathology
Senior Research Scientist at Vancouver Prostate Centre | Associate Professor at Department of Urologic Sciences | Member of Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Faculty of Medicine - University of British Columbia
Dr. Daugaard has a PhD degree from the Danish Cancer Society and Institute of Molecular Pathology, University of Copenhagen. He did his postdoctoral training in molecular pathology with Dr. Poul Sorensen, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, BC. In addition to managing the Molecular Pathology and Cell Imaging core, Dr Daugaard runs several technology development projects in the field of molecular pathology.
Dr. Htoo Zarni Oo, MD, PhD, Molecular Pathologist
Dr. Oo earned an MD from the University of Hiroshima and holds a PhD in molecular pathology. He collaborates with Drs. Gleave, Black, Daugaard, and other principal investigators on technology development and the pathology assessment of human patient tissues and xenograft studies. His primary research focus is on identifying diagnostic and therapeutic cancer biomarkers. Previously, Dr. Oo worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UBC and as a research associate in Dr. Daugaard's lab, where he gained expertise in project management, preclinical and translational studies (clinical trials). Currently, Dr. Oo manages the molecular pathology core, overseeing the bio-repository, tumor annotation, tissue sampling and TMA construction.
Dr. Ali Moeen, M.Sc, PhD
Dr. Moeen holds a B.Sc. in Zoology, M.Sc. in medical microbiology and a Ph.D. in medical biotechnology and molecular biology. Previously, Dr. Moeen has worked as a postdoc and research associate at UBC.
Dr. Moeen oversees and operates our digital scanning system and assists Ms. Kung with IHC procedures, proximity ligation assays, tissue processing and compilation of TMAs.
Sonia Kung, M.Sc.
Sonia has a BSc Honours in Cell and Developmental Biology and MSc in Interdisciplinary Oncology from the University of British Columbia (UBC).
In addition to maintaining the Vancouver Prostate Centre biobank for translational cancer research, Sonia specializes in a variety of histopathology staining methods, which provide further insights into the molecular mechanisms of cancer development. Her work includes profiling molecular targets and protein-protein interactions in clinical specimens using immunohistochemistry (IHC) based assays.
Updated: October 18, 2024
Molecular Pathology Overview / Molecular Pathology Contact
Molecular Pathology Contact
For more information on the Vancouver Prostate Centre's Pathology Services contact:
Ms. Sonia Kung
Tel: 604-875-4111 ext. 63213
Email: Click here to contact Ms. Kung
Updated: April 12, 2021