Tissue Solutions - High-Quality Human Tissues and Biological Materials

Tissue Solutions offers a single point of access to an entire range of human biological materials, including diseased and normal human tissues in fresh, frozen and FFPE formats, and body fluids (e.g. blood, serum, plasma, CSF, ascites, urine, sputum, and synovial fluid). Using a large network of sources Tissue Solutions finds tissues required for drug discovery and development such as genomics, proteomics, biomarker studies, antibody testing, pharmacology and toxicology studies.

Banked human tissues - frozen tissues and formalin preserved paraffin embedded human tissues (FFPE)

Tissue Solutions is not a 'catalogue shop'. Working with a network of post mortem and surgical excess sources, Tissue Solutions sources and supplies fully consented frozen and FFPE blocks and can deliver large orders quickly. Not restricted by inventory, Tissue Solutions can source whatever is the requirement. Tissue Solutions stands by the quality of samples and either refunds or replaces unsatisfactory materials.

Pathology verified tissues are available from a range of disease states (cancer, autoimmune, CNS / neurodegenerative, inflammation, metabolic, cardiovascular, blood disorders and infectious disease). Tissue Solutions can supply matched tumour and normal adjacent tissue from the same donor and meet percentage tumour requirements. Surgical samples are typically frozen within 15-30min of resection and are usually supplied as blocks, although slides and TMAs are also available.

Tissue Solutions also supplies the FDA / EMEA panel of normal tissues for cross-reactivity studies.

Fresh human tissues and cells

Tissue Solutions also provides fresh human tissues in a range of cancers for ex vivo and cell-based assays (surgical resections or post mortem). Fresh skin is also available from surgical excess following various cosmetic procedures. Tissue Solutions also have their own ethics to collect psoriasis tissue and can provide biopsies from lesions and normal skin from the same donor in either fresh or frozen formats.  In addition, fresh urine and bloods can be delivered upon request from healthy and diseased volunteers.

Tissue Solutions supplies freshly isolated human primary cells – capillary brain endothelial cells, astrocytes and glial cells, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (P0), keratinocytes (pooled or single donor), fibroblasts, melanocytes, adipocytes, dermal microvascular endothelial cells, skeletal muscle cells, proximal tubular cells, pancreatic islets and hepatocytes (single donor). These can be supplied in cryovials or flasks.

Bone marrow, umbilical cord, lipoaspirate dental pulp and adult human mesenchymal stem cells are also available, along with CD34 purified cells from umbilical cord blood.

Clinical collaborations for human tissue samples

If the specific samples are not available, Tissue Solutions can carry out a prospective collection with full ethics approval. A dedicated tissue acquistionist performs feasibility studies to identify collaborating clinicians or clinical groups willing to collect on your behalf. Tissue Solutions determines realistic protocols and associated timescales and provides alternative approaches using different tissues types or experiments when needed.

For prospective collections Tissue Solutions prepares a project plan, recruit collaborating clinicians, ensure ethics is in place and secure an agreement with the source.

Tissue processing and analysis services

Tissue Solutions offer a range of tissue processing and analysis services through collaborating partners. This includes the more routine services such as DNA and mRNA extraction from both frozen and FFPE blocks plus, more specialist work such as immunohistochemistry and histology services, primary cell line establishment and development of non-invasive biomarkers.

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and histology services

As part of Immunohistochemistry or IHC and histology services Tissue Solutions offer specialist GLP-accredited provision of IHC and contract histology for expert antibody screening services covering all phases of clinical trials. Tissue Solutions can also offer support for therapeutic antibody development work through cross-reactivity studies in human tissue (FDA panel) and other species (GLP or non-GLP).

Primary cell line establishment and pancreatic islet studies

Working with experienced cell biologists Tissue Solutions can establish and culture new primary cell lines derived from fresh human tissue. Tissue Solutions also undertakes pancreatic islet studies (studies on diabetes or for evaluating new drugs).

Development of non-invasive biomarkers

Tissue Solutions can handle the development of non-invasive biomarkers, including sensitive gene expression profiling (qRT-PCR) measuring drug-induced changes in mRNA gene expression from individual hairs plucked from cancer patients undergoing treatment.

Bioinformatics service in support of personalised medicine and patient stratification

In collaboration with a partner, Tissue Solutions can apply artificial network (ANN) modelling to generate information-rich proteomic datasets for analysis. Potential applications include examining the effects of drug treatments on tissues or cells which can be interrogated to reveal changes in expressed gene interactions, paving the way for co-therapy or therapy planning decisions.