BC Cancer Research Histology and Digital Imaging Core

BASIC’s mission is to serve the research pathology needs of the BC Cancer Research Institute and BC Cancer, thereby supporting tissue-based biomarker research and precision oncology while enabling a broader capacity for translational research, genomic medicine and novel, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for British Columbians.

The BASIC lab will facilitate a coordinated, institutional approach to providing histology services for research purposes.  

The current services offered are: 

  • FFPE embedding
    • tissue biopsy or cell/organoid pellet
    • human, mouse, xenograft, or other animal tissue
  • H&E
    • stain unstained sections, or sections from FFPE blocks or frozen tissue
  • IHC (Roche Benchmark Discovery XT)
    • single-plex
    • wide array of antibodies already optimized for IHC stain on FFPE sections, mostly for human and mouse tissues
    • antibody optimization on new antibodies, under direction and guidance of the requestor and their pathologist
    • have most commonly used human/mouse FFPE tissues for use as controls, but may need the requester to provide control tissue
    • reagents used:

Kit:

• Discovery ChromoMap DAB kit

Secondary antibodies:

• Discovery UltraMap anti-Rb HRP

• Discovery UltraMap anti-Ms HRP

• Rabbit anti-sheep, -goat, -rat, -chicken

Antigen retrieval:

• Discovery CC1, Discovery CC2, Roche Protease 1

  • TMA building
    • For IHC, CosMx, GeoMx, etc. analysis
    • We can advise on TMA layout if needed.
  • Sectioning/scrolling
    • Unstained FFPE or frozen sections on glass slides for IHC, RNA extraction, DNA extraction, microdissection, etc.
    • FFPE or frozen scrolls for RNA, DNA, or protein extraction
  • Digital pathology/Slide scanning (Zeiss Axioscan 7)
    • Brightfield 20x or 40x magnification
    • Zeiss image format .czi
    • Can be converted to .svs, .jpg formats

Information on the submission process:

Pricing (internal link) - Download pdf.

Requisition form - Download pdf. Please fill in the left hand side columns and attached to your samples when dropping off.

  • Make sure all information is legible.
  • Research groups are responsible for their own research ethics and a REB # must be included.

Turnaround time – Dependant on complexity of work, staff & equipment availability.

  • Typically 2-3 weeks.
  • TMAs and antibody workups usually 1 month.

Acceptable samples – Must be accompanied with a requisition form that includes sample type, work requested, cost centre, name and email of requestor.  Identifiers on the sample or sample container must match the information on the requisition form.

Rejected samples – Requestor will be contacted by email if samples are rejected.

  • Unlabelled or improperly labeled
  • No requisition attached
  • Radioactive /CJD / HIV/ TB samples.

Email - basic@bccrc.ca for more information or any concerns.

Staff-operated equipment include the Roche Benchmark Discovery XT IHC platform, a cryostat (Sakura Tissue-Tek Cryo3), autostainer (Sakura Tissue-Tek Prisma), paraffin embedding station (Sakura Tissue-Tek), tissue processor (Sakura Histo-Tek), microtomes and a slide scanner (Zeiss Axioscan 7).

All procedures are performed under the supervision of Dr David Scott, Medical Director, with Dr Stephen Yip as the alternate Medical Director and Dr Calum MacAulay as Operations Director. 

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