Breast Cancer SPORE Core Resources

The Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer SPORE consists of four Mayo investigator-initiated research projects. It's supported by two scientific cores constructed around a theme of breast cancer and consolidated by an administrative core. The SPORE also supports Career Development and Developmental Research Programs.

Administrative Core

Director: James N. Ingle, M.D.
Administrative Assistant: Vicki Shea

The Administrative Core is responsible for providing administrative and organizational support for the leadership of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer SPORE. It facilitates communication between SPORE components, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic as a whole, other Breast Cancer SPOREs and the National Cancer Institute.

This core is crucial to the integration of all SPORE activities and to effective and efficient oversight. The Administrative Core coordinates the activities of the SPORE Executive Committee, the Mayo Inter-SPORE Advisory Committee, the Internal Scientific Advisory Committee and the External Advisory Committee.

This core also provides administrative support for the activities of the Developmental Research Program and the Career Development Program. The Administrative Core assists the SPORE director in coordinating and facilitating the research projects and ensuring the proper functioning of the cores in support of the translational research effort.

Biospecimens and Pathology Core

Co-Directors: Daniel W. Visscher, M.D.; and Wilma L. Lingle, Ph.D.

The Biospecimen and Pathology Core provides the biospecimens (frozen tissue, FFPE tissue, tissue microarrays and cell line microarrays, blood, serum, DNA, and RNA), pathology annotations, histological services, and pathology support necessary to support the projects of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer SPORE as well as other breast cancer translational research projects. The core also provides histology-related services such as sectioning, immunostaining, antibody optimization and characterization, and digital imaging. Core pathologists provide IHC interpretations. These functions are essential to most translational research, including the specific projects included in the SPORE.

Biostatistics and Patient Registry Core

Director: Vera J. Suman, Ph.D.

The Biostatistics and Patient Registry Core provides statistical collaboration and data management support for each of the SPORE projects, the Cores, the Developmental Research Projects and the Career Development awardees. Areas of support include:

• Development of a statistical design and analysis plan
• Quality control
• Database development
• Data form development and processing
• Data collection and entry
• Data analysis and interpretation
• Manuscript preparation
• Data archiving
• Oversight of the development, population and maintenance of the Breast Cancer Patient Registry (BCPR)

Members of the Biostatistics and Patient Registry Core will continue to collaborate with Mayo Foundation staff, working on an enterprisewide initiative to develop a virtual data warehouse that integrates elements of the Mayo Clinic resources, which include:

• Electronic medical records
• Surgical Index
• Pathology index
• Tumor Registry
• Tissue Registry
• Cancer Center database
• Orders
• Resource utilization database

These collaborations will lead to a means to identify patient cohorts for Breast Cancer SPORE projects and to electronically populate some elements into the BCPR.