The GYN tumor tissue bank at Hopkins was established in 1998 by Dr. Fredrick J. Montz and Dr. Robert J. Kurman. It was subsequently maintained and expanded by Dr. Richard Roden and Dr. Ie-Ming Shih. Since 2014, the bank has been directed by Dr. Tian-Li Wang and Dr. Amanda Fader, as well as a team of dedicated staff members. The goals of tissue banking entail comprehensive and research-specific banking tasks in order to meet the growing research needs in the post-genomic era. The bank also has expanded to the Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington D.C.
During the past decade, the GYN tissue bank has supported many research projects, secured numerous funding opportunities from private and government sectors, and the research activities has led to more than 60 publications in leading journals. Current research areas supported by the GYN tissue bank includes early detection of GYN tumors, led by Dr. Bert Vogelstein and Dr. Jeff Wang, molecular genomic characterization of GYN tumors, led by Dr. Victor Velculescu, functional characterization of ovarian cancer immune-environment, led by Dr. Drew Pardoll, and molecular pathology study of GYN neoplasms, led by Dr. Ie-Ming Shih.
In the past decade, the pathology team has collaborated with Dr. Denis Wirtz in the Department of Chemical Engineering on imaging analysis for studying tumor cell migration and invasion as well as for differential diagnosis.
