The EIO Cell Bank is a shared resource open to all MSK researchers with the purpose of enabling the translation of basic immuno-oncology research to human tumors. The Cell Bank combines the established tissue collection and storage workflow of MSK’s Precision Pathology Biobanking Center (PPBC) with validated tumor dissociation techniques to create high-viability single-cell suspensions of clinically resected tumors. These single cell suspensions are suitable for downstream analyses of the cellular components of the tumor microenvironment (TME). No selection or sorting is performed prior to freezing single cell suspensions in order to maintain the full diversity of the TME, including immune cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and tumor cells, thereby making banked cell preps useful for a wide range of techniques and research areas. We have validated our tissue dissociation technique using banked, frozen cell suspensions to perform immunophenotyping by flow cytometry, T-cell activation, and single-cell RNAseq. A searchable database containing cell preparation QC data and associated clinical information for each available banked aliquot is open to MSK researchers to enable them to find samples that match their research needs.
EIO Cell Bank Growth Over Time
Growth of the number of individual tumors processed (red line) and dissociated cell aliquots banked (blue line) in the EIO Cell Bank.
EIO Cell Bank Composition
Number of individual tumors processed in the EIO Cell Bank by disease.
The Immuno-Oncology Cell Bank is in the early stages of collection and we expect the sample numbers to grow over the next year and to ultimately include dissociated tissue preps from a wide range of cancers.