Arthur H and Isabel Bunker Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and Professor of Pathology; Chief, Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Hematology; Director, DeLuca Center for Innovation in Hematology Research, Yale Cancer Center; Assistant Medical Director CRSL, Yale Cancer Center; Chief, Yale Cancer Center, Division of Translational Hematology
Hematology Tissue Bank
The Yale Hematology Tissue Bank was established in 2007 to give researchers access to critical patient samples for the study of hematologic diseases. This biorepository was designed to support biomedical research including clinical trials, support focused research, and serve community health initiatives.
YHTB Staff
Goals & Objectives
The Hematology Biospecimen Repository continues to grow exponentially with enrollment of over 3000 patients and collection close to 9000 individual samples. As a routine for our Tissue Bank, we collect new diagnosis peripheral blood and bone marrow samples on all patients with leukemia and other hematologic cancers, including, but not exclusive to myelodysplasia, leukemia, and multiple myeloma. We systematically capture diagnosis, remission, relapse, and refractory disease samples to drive research into mechanisms of therapeutic resistance and failure.
To guide distribution, specifically of rare samples, we have formed various oversight committees. These committees are led by clinical and research experts to assure that samples are distributed to best advance understanding and treatment of diseases, while also fostering research in junior faculty labs.
Hematological disease biospecimen intake, processing, storage, and distribution
Collections are primarily sourced from local hematology clinics within the Yale New Haven Health network. Expansion efforts are underway to include even more clinics that will capture time points for patients who visit different clinics.
To accurately maintain a growing inventory of samples, the Heme Tissue Bank has implemented the full-featured sample tracking and management program, Freezerworks™. Combining the power and flexibility of a user-configurable information management system with the solid foundation of a relational database, Freezerworks™ efficiently tracks what is being stored, moved, and shipped to outside organizations, down to the precise location in the freezer. This program can be accessed by collaborators to monitor and query aliquot numbers and status for ongoing projects.
Sample Logistics
With advanced care and diagnosis within the clinic, the Tissue Bank always looks to modify the workflow to accommodate patient care, reduce workload for clinic staff, and precisely determine appropriate subjects for ongoing research initiatives.
Training systems are in place to keep up with a changing clinic that allow for researchers to select subjects, collect samples without interfering with patient care, and efficiently route the samples directly to designated drop off points for the Tissue Bank staff.
Clinical Trial Support
The Yale Heme Tissue Bank will provide staffing and technical support for biospecimen collection, processing, storage, and distribution according to the specific clinical trial protocols.
With its streamlined workflow, the Tissue Bank can serve as a reliable source for appropriately handling, collecting, and storing valuable specimens.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The overwhelming surge of AI tools has given the Tissue Bank staff a resource to better understand collection information. The tools being designed with AI, provide greater detail to previously banked samples, and will aid in clinically annotations of future samples. Thereby providing investigators an incredible level of detail to determine if a particular sample is appropriate for ones research.
Contact Us
For more information about accessing the resources of Yale Heme Tissue Bank, or to find out more: