Biobank & Phenotyping Core

The Biobank & Phenotypic Core (BPC Director: Dr. Al Kim). The BPC comprises of three distinct, but related, services committed to support clinical and translational efforts.

• The Biobank (led by Dr. Al Kim): Our main goal is to provide an integrated rheumatic diseases Registry and biospecimens Repository that is searchable and maintained through electronic biomedical data management systems, allowing for the annotation, tracking, and sharing of tissue and databases. Over 1200 study participants in 9 disease spaces have provided consent, clinical data, and biospecimens for the sole purpose of improving our understanding of the pathophysiology of rheumatic diseases.
• The Integrative Informatics core, formerly the Genomics & Bioinformatics Facility, is led by Dr. Eli Roberson. For WashU-RDRRC members, he can provide expert guidance, training, and analysis services for human genetics, translational genomics, and bioinformatics. Dr. Roberson can provide consultation and feedback on technology choices and experimental design to maximize power and minimize cost. He also provides member training on using genomic databases, accessing data, building custom Docker images, designing Snakemake workflows, archiving raw data, and performing reproducible analysis with R/Python. For assistance with using high-volume medical records data, Dr. Roberson can help link WashU-RDRRC members with appropriate consultations with members of the Washington University Informatics, Data Science & Biostatistics (I2DB). Together, these services assist from experimental conception to analysis and interpretation while incorporating principles to enhance research rigor and reproducibility.
• The ImmunoMonitoring Lab (IML, led by Dr. Stephen Oh and Dr. Kathleen Sheehan) will provide the structure, instrumentation, and expertise to interrogate human and mouse immunologic profiles, including the use of validated panels of CyTOF-ready antibodies that have been developed by CHiiPs. A list of service offered by the IML is available on their website. The IML will offer WashU Medicine-RDRRC investigators, prioritizing those who do not have access to other subsidies, up to 50% discount on labor costs, up to $1,000 per user per service. These subsidies will be distributed through the IML iLab. Submissions are on a rolling basis, first-come first-served.