Shared Resources 

The Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI) offers shared resources that provide TCI members with access to central facilities and laboratories necessary to advance cancer research. These shared resources encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and foster the translation of scientific discoveries into novel cancer therapeutics. 

Basic Science Shared Resources 

Philippe M. Soriano, PhD 
Associate Director, Basic Science Shared Resources 

Flow Cytometry 
Shared Resource Leader: Jordi Ochando, PhD

Mount Sinai's Flow Cytometry Shared Resource Facility provides state-of-the-art flow cytometry services. TCI's strong focus on translational research, as well as emerging areas in cancer research, such as cancer stem cells and tumor immunology, have made the sorting of human samples one of the principal requirements for TCI investigators.

Mouse Genetics 
Shared Resource Leader: Kevin A. Kelley, PhD 

The Mouse Genetics Shared Resource Facility is an invaluable tool for TCI investigators, providing TCI members with the ability to create and maintain mouse models for their cancer-related studies. The availability of this resource allows investigators to create novel lines of mice that can be used to study various aspects of cancer biology in an appropriate animal model. 

Microscopy 
Shared Resource Leader: Victor L. Friedrich, PhD 

The Microscopy Shared Resource Facility provides high-quality advanced microscope systems, image analysis software, and microscopy expertise for live cell, live animal, and fixed specimen imaging. The breadth of instrumentation available in the Microscopy facility is an overwhelming advantage to the cancer researchers who use it. 

Genomics
Shared Resource Leader: Milind Mahajan, PhD

The Genomics Shared Resource makes the latest genomic technologies available to members of The TCI. Deep sequencing and other genomic technologies, such as SNP genotyping arrays, are critical to developing biomarkers and therapeutic targets for cancers. Massively parallel, "next-generation" sequencing (NGS) will be a key technology for enabling the next revolution in cancer research. 

Clinical Research Shared Resources 

Marshall Posner, MD 
Associate Director, Clinical Cores 

Biostatistics 
Shared Resource Leaders: James H. Godbold, PhD, Emilia Bagiella, PhD

The Biostatistics Shared Resource provides biostatistical collaboration and consultation to investigators throughout The TCI. In the collaborations with basic science, clinical, and translational investigators, the biostatisticians contribute to study design, monitoring for quality assurance in the conduct of the study and in data management, data analysis and interpretation, manuscript preparation, and education in statistical concepts. Not only do the biostatisticians contribute to cancer research through the offering of this shared resource, they also participate in the prioritzation and oversight of all research going on within the TCI through their participation in various committees. 

Biorepository 
Shared Resource Leader: William K. Oh, MD 

The Cancer Institute Biorepository (CIB) is a shared resource facility administered directly by The TCI, which provides an extensive biospecimen resource with associated clinical data in order to facilitate translational research for Mount Sinai investigators and collaborators. The CIB provides clinically obtained tissue and blood-derived specimens that are linked to clinical data through the Icahn School of Medicine Data Warehouse. The CIB seeks to provide the highest quality annotated collections to provide a platform for translational research that can lead to improved diagnosis and care of cancer patients. 

Cancer Clinical Trials Office 
Medical Director: Marshall R. Posner, MD 
Associate Medical Director: Matthew Galsky, MD 
Director of Clinical Research Operations: Rosemarie Gagliardi 

The Cancer Clinical Trials Office (CCTO) is a critical element of The TCI, facilitating clincial research and translating the benefits of scientific research to clinical practice in an organized, scientific and ethical manner. The CCTO provides the infrastructure and resources required to support patient-based cancer research; serves as the central location for cancer protocols; and provides a centralized database of protocol-specific data. The CCTO maintains a current list of active protocols and enrollments for use by disease teams and TCI management and reports on the status of open protocols. 

Shared Resources In Development 

The TCI has several shared resources in development: 

Immune Monitoring 
Co-Directors: 
Miriam Merad, MD, PhD 
Karolina Palucka, MD, PhD
Manager: Seunghee Kim-Schulze, PhD 

The Cancer Immune Monitoring laboratory is a state-of-the-art facility set up to monitor cell-mediated immune responses in clinical trials of new immune therapies or drugs, as well as monitor the immune competence of cancer patients enrolled in these trials. Our staff will offer expert advice to clinicians on the types of immune monitoring assays to choose for clinical trial monitoring and data interpretation. This shared resource facility will benefit Tisch Cancer Institute members by providing state of the art immunomonitoring including assays that might not be available in individual labs. The Immune Monitoring shared resource in development has expertise in multichromatic flow cytometry (immuno-phenotyping, antigen specific intracellular cytokine and tetramer staining), Dye based cell proliferation assays, functional regulatory T cell suppression assay, cytotoxicity and Luminex multiplexed bead array assays. 

Integrated Screening 
Director: Dan P. Felsenfeld, PhD 

The Integrated Screening shared resource in development provides a centralized facility at the Icahn School of Medicine for the design and execution of high-throughput and high-content screens of small molecule and siRNA libraries. Integrated Screening was formed through the recent merger of two screening facilities at Mount Sinai, the High-Content Screening Shared Resource Facility (HCS-SRF; dedicated to cell-based screens of siRNA libraries) and the Translational Chemical Biology Center (TCBC; dedicated to cell-free biochemical screens of small-molecule libraries). The facilities' resources include automated workstations for both high-throughput and high-content assays screens. Data for high-throughput screens are collected using an EnVision (Perkin Elmer) automated plate reader. The EnVision plate reader is integrated with a liquid handling and plate-loading system that permits the automated screening of up to 100 plates without user intervention. Additionally, the facility has two additional high-throughput systems that employ Tecan plate readers (Genios Pro and Safire 2). The high-content screening system is built around an automated confocal microscope (ImageXpress Ultra; Molecular Devices) integrated with a plate-moving robot capable of loading multiple sets of micro-well plates in a single-unattended run. Images from this system are stored in a database for subsequent automated analysis of protein expression, distribution and cell morphology. This technology is ideally suited for the analysis of small molecule and genome-wide RNAi screens. 

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPS) 
Director: Sunita D'Souza, PhD 

The study of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) remains one of the most fascinating areas of research due to the extraordinary ability of these cells to undergo both unlimited self-renewal and to differentiate into all cell types present in the adult organism. The former feature equips us with an unlimited source of pluripotent cells whereas the latter characteristic ensures a continuous supply of differentiated cell types. These features make ESCs and iPSCs extremely attractive for not only basic research into the fundamental mechanisms of lineage commitment, but also for regenerative medical applications including, but not limited to, cell based therapies, toxicology screens and drug development. Moreover, several groups have used this technology to duplicate and understand oncogenesis, creating the first cancer-specific iPSCs called "induced pluripotent cancer (iPC) cells". The hESC/iPSC shared resource in development has been established to facilitate the transfer of this technology to the Mount Sinai community by aiding in the generation and differentiation of patient-specific iPSC and iPC cell lines.