Pitt Biospecimen Core

Overview of Equipment and Services

The Pitt Biospecimen Core (PBC) provides centralized, IRB-compliant support for University of Pittsburgh and external researchers seeking high-quality human tissue, blood products, biofluids and other biological specimens from patients seen at UPMC. The PBC streamlines specimen accrual, processing, banking, and distribution. The PBC contains a repository of more than 800,000 biospecimens collected from approximately 80,000 patient visits spanning cancer, non-cancer disease states, and normal tissue, and offers prospective specimen collection customized to investigator-defined criteria. Services also include research histology services for tissue processing, staining, and immunohistochemistry; and support through an IRB‑approved Honest Broker system to ensure research integrity. Guided by ISBER (International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories) best practices, the PBC upholds rigorous quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvements in all daily operations.

Research Histology services are listed on a separate iLab site.

 Location and Hours of Operation

Resources

• Pitt Biospecimen Core website
• PBC Acknowledgement and Citation Guidelines
• PBC Project Request Management Tool
• Pitt Biospecimen Core – Institute for Precision Medicine

Contacts